ROCKLAND—A three-year-old boy with a brand-new Spiderman bike had the worst day of his life last month when he and his mother parked it outside a store only to exit and find it stolen. But, then, something amazing happened.

According to a March 31 Facebook post by the Rockland Maine Police Department, a woman saw the original Facebook post detailing the theft. According to the Rockland Police Department’s follow-up post: “The woman, who lives all the way in Oxford County, saw our post and felt as if she just had to do something to help. Unfortunately, she was recently forced to choose between making her rent or vehicle payment. Not wanting to default on the car loan, she is now currently unhoused and living out of her vehicle. Her own struggles did not deter the woman, however; and she selflessly purchased a new bike, helmet, and lock at a local Walmart and made the drive to Rockland. The women’s generosity was contagious and a clerk who heard what she was doing, gave her money to help pay for tolls.”

According to Lura Robinson, a board member of Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition, a plan was put in place to help the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous.

“We work closely with the Rockland police department and if they find someone who needs housing, they’ll call us,” said Robinson. “After the lady brought in the bike and told them her story, the police called us to see if we could connect her with resources to the Midcoast Homeless Coalition and maybe help her out by raising funds. Our Operations Manager Iain Kirkham decided that we at Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition should take on the fundraiser. This particular fundraiser is not associated with addiction in any way; we just try to help the community and give back where we can.

“She lost her job due to illness and only had social security to live on. She couldn’t afford both an apartment and a car, so she gave up her apartment and moved into her car. on it. Because she is the giving woman that she is, the day she got her Social Security check, she made a choice to buy the bike instead of going to a hotel that night. She decided it was her calling to buy this little boy a bike, instead.”

News Center Maine ran a story about the circumstances of the replaced bike on April 2. That was the week that Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition learned that the woman’s car had an $18,000 loan still left on it and started the fundraiser for her to pay it off so she could build up more funds toward an apartment. As of April 18, more than $9,000 has been raised for the woman.

Officer Alex Gaylor, who met the woman when she came into the station with the new bike, said: “This women's kindness and the degree of selflessness in her act, really stuck a cord with us and the community as a whole. The community reaction and outpouring of support and kindness that has stemmed from this is amazing. I want to thank Iain and Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition for stepping up to help this woman. In this day and age where bad news and the negative side of humanity seem to be such prominent headlines, I think in some ways we all needed this—not just the boy whose bike was stolen. This women's kindness was 100 percent contagious and her simple actions spoke volumes. She did not just dwell on the negative of what happened, and despite not living nearby or having much of her own, she did not say to herself ‘this was someone else's problem,’ she went out and made sure that love and kindness overcame. It brings to mind a quote  I once heard, ‘The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to sit back and do nothing.’" 

The fundraiser is ongoing until the end of April. 

“Anything that we do that’s less than that is just a Band-Aid,” said Kirkham.

“My idea is to put a challenge out to the car dealerships in the area: perhaps a donation in the $1,000 to $2,000 range to help this lady,” said Robinson.

To learn more about the fundraiser visit: Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com