Firefighters replace stolen bike

When Jessica Miller moved to Chatham from Merlin with her two boys seven months ago, she brought with her the small-town ideal of trust and neighbourhood support.

It served her well over the years, including the seven she spent in Merlin. Unfortunately, on Nov. 27, it also resulted in someone stealing one of her sons’ bikes while the family was away.

Thieves stole Carter’s unlocked bright red bike out of his fenced-in backyard. It was a bike he’d earned two years ago by winning a fire safety plan contest at Merlin Area Public School.

Jessica said Carter, who has autism, worked for hours to finalize the floor plan of the family two-storey home in Merlin, detailing the escape routes the family would use if there was a fire, and the location away from the home where everyone would meet. His effort earned him the bike from the firefighters.

“They didn’t know it (the plan) was done by a kid with autism,” Jessica said.

That bicycle was his pride and joy.

“Carter has always taken good care of the bike. It looked like new,” Jessica said.

And now it was gone.

Enter the power of social media. Jessica posted on the page of a local Facebook group about the loss of Carter’s bike. It soon found its way to the Merlin firefighters, leading to the renewal of Jessica’s faith in small-town kindness.

When the people who gave Carter a bike two years ago heard it had been stolen, they acted quickly to buy him a new one and give him a memory he won’t soon forget.

The firefighters contacted one of Jessica’s friends in Merlin and asked her to invite the family to dinner. They planned to show up and surprise the Millers.

But the family friend spilled the beans to Jessica a couple of days early.

“I cried my eyes out for 24 hours. I was so overwhelmed,” Jessica said. “When the firefighters said they were going to replace the bike, I was in shock. It is so heartwarming that the firefighters wanted to do this for him.”

But Carter had no idea what was in store for him when Jessica took her kids to Merlin for dinner Dec. 2. Jessica said there was a knock at the door and Carter was instructed to answer it, only to be greeted by a group of firefighters armed with a shiny new bike – and an invitation for the family to come for a ride on the fire trucks waiting outside.

Carter loves his new bike and loved riding on a fire truck, lights flashing and siren wailing. He appreciates what the firefighters did for him.

“I’d say, ‘Thank you for my bike and have a merry Christmas,’” Carter said of what he’d tell the firefighters.

The guys from Merlin’s station already know how Carter feels.

“This is what being from a small town is all about,” firefighter Darrin Haskell said to Jessica in a text message. “There is nothing more rewarding in life than to see a smile on the face of a small child.”

Just five days after Carter lost his bike, he had a new one. What’s more, the firefighters actually had some competition.

“Somebody I don’t even know in Chatham started a group to try to collect money to buy Carter a new bike,” Jessica said.

As for Carter’s new wheels, as well as every other bike in the family, they’re now stored in the basement. Despite all the small-town goodwill out there, Jessica realizes there are still creeps out and about.