Many people head to the pawn shop during the holiday season, selling their valuables for cash to afford gifts for loved ones. But one man in Holland, Mich., loaned something priceless -- his Purple Heart.
In November, a serviceman on leave went to the A-Z Outlet in Holland, a pawn shop owned by Bryan VandenBosch, and sold one of his two Purple Hearts. He earned them after he was wounded while serving in Afghanistan, the Holland Sentinel reported.
"He was falling on hard times," VandenBosch told the Sentinel. "He said the same thing everybody else who comes in here says. He was short on funds."
Michele Belczak, an employee at Max Your Gold in Southfield, Mich., has seen customers selling valuables as they struggle to afford their holiday spending,projected to reach $646 for an average American family this year.
"It's going to hurt less to buy their kids Christmas presents, or Christmas is simply going to be better because they're going to have this extra money they didn't expect to have," she said
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