Luca’s Boutique replaces stolen purse for 92-year-old

By Rosemary McCoy

When Luca Papini heard that a 92-year-old woman’s purse had been taken by a thief, he knew he could help.

The owner of Luca’s Boutique invited Eileen Iverson of Canton to pick out a purse from his shop on the boardwalk at 8th & Railroad Center.

“I hoped that I was helping her overcome that bad memory,” said Papini, who has been robbed before and has a 94-year-old grandmother in Italy.

On July 8, the thief approached Iverson when she was parked outside the Canton Post Office, distracted her and took the purse from the front seat of her car. Papini learned about the purse-snatching on Facebook when he saw a post from a man who was trying to raise money to replace the purse and its contents.

“I thought to myself, why would they raise money when my store is full of purses?”

Papini has been selling handcrafted Italian leather purses and other merchandise since March 2016 at the building on East Eighth Street. Iverson and one of her daughters stopped at the store July 16, and she picked out a purse and wallet.

“She felt really that I was giving her too much, Papini said.

Iverson told him she didn’t deserve the $450 purse, but Papini told her “it’s my purse that doesn’t deserve you.”

She asked Papini what she could do for him, and he asked her to pray for him.

“We all want to do good,” he said. “We want to bring change and bring happiness to life for others. We wait for that chance.”

The smile on Iverson’s face as she held her new purse was that moment for Papini.

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Luca’s Boutique replaces stolen purse for 92-year-old

When Luca Papini heard that a 92-year-old woman’s purse had been taken by a thief, he knew he could help.

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