A group of moms have shown a Burnaby teen there are still good people in the world.
Early Monday morning, 12-year-old Keira Fix’s bike was stolen. Someone had cut the lock and taken it right from the family’s front door.
The bike, which she bought in February, was special. It took her five months to save money from her paper route for the $200-wheels.
“(She delivered) the paper in the rain, the cold, the heat, everything,” says her mother, Lana Pelletier. “It broke her heart.”
Pelletier told her neighbour Jesse Blackmore that morning. Frustrated that someone would do such a thing, Blackmore posted about what happened in a mom’s Facebook group of 4,000 members later that night, around 8:30 p.m.
“I went home and couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she told the NOW, adding her post was more of a rant than anything.
Before she knew it, people were asking how they could help and where could they donate. By midnight, enough money was raised to buy Fix a new bike – the exact model she had before – and a new heavy-duty lock.
“We were all bawling. It was crazy,” said Blackmore.
One of the moms who donated to the cause was Leah MacIntyre, who collected all the donations, went to Canadian Tire to pick up the bike and delivered it to Fix Tuesday evening.
“It was so heartwarming. I was telling people at work, I said, ‘I can’t believe this,’” she said of the online donations. “These are the same women who post they’re short on money for groceries this month or are short on money for formula. These same women pitched in what they could to help some stranger get her new bike and be happy again.”
Fighting back tears, MacIntyre said as a mother to two young children, she wanted to set an example for her kids and show them there are kind people in the world. She even brought her four-year-old daughter Paisley along with her when she gave Fix her new ride.
As for the Burnaby teen, she said she was “very happy” about the gift.
“Thank you – there are really no other words,” she said.
Fix’s mom was also “shocked” at the generosity of strangers and how fast people reacted to her daughter’s story.
“I couldn’t believe it. I don’t even know these people,” Pelletier said. “I guess everybody can relate to losing something they’ve earned.”
