Like the flattened tomato plants he's been lifting from the ground since vandals damaged his garden last weekend, the spirits of Saverio Strati have been buoyed the past two days by an outpouring of sympathy from friends and strangers alike.

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Saverio Strati describes how he lifted his tomato plants and restaked them after they were vandalized over the weekend. Click photo for larger image.

"My heart is so full. You can't believe the feelings, going from so bad to so good," said the 76-year-old Hazelwood man.

His is a story that pulled the heartstrings of people far and wide.

On Sunday, before Mass at St. Stephen Church in Hazelwood, Mr. Strati went to check on the quarter-acre garden he and his brother-in-law have been tending the past 40 years. The plot is on a half-acre city-owned parcel along West Elizabeth Street. A handful of other gardeners have plots there as well.

Instead of a thriving garden, Mr. Strati found devastation: Most of the 400 6-foot tomato plants in the garden had been knocked down and many of his 300 pepper plants were destroyed.

The men had grown their plants from seeds saved from last year's harvest, watched them sprout in their basements, sheltered them in a greenhouse until the last threat of a killing frost was past and planted them outdoors, just yards from their homes.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette printed a front-page story about the vandalism on Monday.

By afternoon, Mr. Strati began receiving phone calls of sympathy, not just from friends and neighbors, but from strangers, too. The Post-Gazette received more than a dozen e-mails and a dozen calls. The common theme was condolence and a desire to help.

"Someone sent me $50 in today's mail. I couldn't believe it," said Mr. Strati. He said he has received other notes and phone calls from people who want to give him money or gift cards, but he is discouraging that.

"Thank God, money is not a problem for us. I am telling people to give the money to Meals on Wheels or to the church. I just appreciate that they care," he said.

He said he and his brother-in-law, Joseph Staltari, 80, of Hazelwood, were able to save about 250 of the tomato plants. Though they had been knocked over, their main stalks were not broken, so the men spent most of Sunday afternoon and much of Monday retying the plants to 8-foot stakes.

Meanwhile, they collected about four bushels of fallen unripened tomatoes and have been doling them out.

Though he was devastated by the vandalism -- the first in 40 years -- Mr. Strati said good is sprouting from bad.

As he put it: "I'm thinking that there is good in what has happened. It is bringing goodness out of people, showing how good people are. Even though I feel bad about the tomato plants, I can see by all the kindness I've been shown that not everybody is evil. There are people out there who care. They understand that it's only a garden, but it's something that somebody loved and took care of. They don't know me but they understand and they care."