It's not just about the money. (Making a Difference).

Azzat Amer, 40, is a native of Egypt. He has lived in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the past 18 years, and during the last three has owned and operated A.Z. Patterson Grocery on the city's east side. In 1989, while he was running a local pizza shop, he was once robbed at gunpoint, and experienced firsthand what it is like to have one's hard-earned money stolen.

At about 1:15 p.m. on August 11th, Amer was sweeping up the front parking lot of his store when his cashier suddenly ran out and yelled, "Catch him, he robbed me!" The cashier, who had handed over the store's cash after being threatened with an unseen (and apparently nonexistent) gun, pointed to a man fleeing up a nearby street.

As reported in the next day's Winston-Salem Journal Sun, "Amer yelled at the man to stop. He didn't. So Amer ... gave chase." After a few minutes the suspect began running across a field, so Amer opted to circle around in the hope of cutting him off. When the robber noticed that no one appeared to be chasing him, he slowed down and began to walk. As described by Journal Sun reporter Patrick Wilson, "His yellow-and-blue, short-sleeve dress shirt soaked with sweat, Amer ran the rest of the way to cut the robber off, ...