CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A northwest suburban Panera worker is distraught, because her company cap is gone. But, it wasn’t just any Panera cap.
For the past 16 years, Jacque Axelrad has been putting military pins on her Panera hat. They were given to her by a group of veterans who’ve been meeting regularly and have followed her from a Panera in Rolling Meadows to one in Arlington Heights to her current position at the Panera at Randhurst Shopping Center in Mt. Prospect.
“I think that they just wanted to be represented and remembered,” the 55-year-old cashier said.
But last Thursday, when Axelrad was in the West Loop for a wedding rehearsal dinner, someone broke the window to her car and stole her Panera bag. It had contained her wallet and her very special hat with as many as 20 military pins.
“I was just so sad. That’s all, I could just, I felt like I let them down," she said.
“Everyone entrusted me with those pins ‘cause they meant something to them. They weren’t giving me, 'Oh this is in the junk drawer.' It was special to them and they honored me and they thought I would take care of it and I felt like I let people down.”
U.S. Army veteran Bob Skowron, 88, doesn’t blame Axelrad.
“All I hope is that the Christmas will be more complete by someone returning the hat to her," he said.
Same goes for 89-year-old Army vet Lee Jensen, who said Jacque Axelrad is family and that the group is disappointed when Axelrad is not at the Panera.
“I just hope the Grinch that stole that stole the hat will get that back to Jacque," Jensen said.
Jacque Axelrad said her first pin was an Air Force pin she had put on her Panera cap. She said that when the veterans group started coming in for their get-togethers, they felt she shouldn’t just represent the Air Force, so they started giving her pins and buttons. Her latest three pins included one that said Army Mom, because her son is now in the service.
She said one of the veterans named John, who is now deceased, gave her a pin that his wife had worn before she died.
“It was just valuable to him ‘cause his wife wore it and he decided to give it to me so it would be seen," Axelrad said.
Bob Skowron recalled that when one of the group died, Axelrad showed up for the burial with a box of blueberry muffins, the kind that veteran had ordered when he was alive.
“Giving a pin to her was more than just giving up a physical thing. It was part of us. She is now part of us,” Skowron said.
Axelrad said she filed a report with Chicago police and she’s still holding out hope the cap will be found.
She said her husband went down to the West Loop to a gas station where the thief had used one of her credit cards, but did not find the cap anywhere in the area.
She’s still trying to remain optimistic.
“It’s a long shot, but I believe God is the God of longshots," Axelrad said.
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