Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter to say a huge thank you to some very special Merritt residents.
On the afternoon of Sept. 2, my husband and I set out from our home in Salmon Arm to visit our families in Vancouver. Two hours later, we were involved in a horrible car accident in which our car hit water, spun across the Coquihalla Highway, flipped several times and landed upside down, down an embankment. We amazingly managed to crawl out of a small opening. The car was crushed and destroyed. An ambulance transported us to the Nicola Valley Hospital and several hours later, Mario’s Towing was able to recover our vehicle.
We found ourselves injured, cold, wet and covered in a mixture of blood and dirt. Our belongings were in the vehicle, including our wallets containing cash, identification, ATM cards, et cetera. To be clear, we looked so bad that most people would probably have avoided us. That is the opposite of what complete strangers did for us.
First, thank you to James from Mario’s Towing. This young man had endured a very long day with many cars damaged on the highway. I am sure he just wanted to go home, but he did not. Instead, knowing our situation, he hung around the tow yard waiting for us to be released from hospital. He made sure that we were able to retrieve our much-needed wallets and dry clothes. What a good man! He did this with a caring attitude and a smile on his face. Thank you James, you made such a difference.
Second, a taxi driver took us to Mario’s, knowing that we had no way to pay him should our wallets not be found. Thank you.
We then made our way to the Husky, still covered in blood, shivering with cold and soaking wet. Husky should be very proud of their employee Tory. Tory, we will be forever grateful for your actions. This young man went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable and welcome. He offered us hot coffee to warm up, offered us a quiet, private area to relax and wait three hours for a bus, put our luggage in a safe place and showed nothing but kindness. Tory, you are an amazing person, and we will never forget all that you did for us. Please accept our heartfelt thank you.
While at the Husky, the unbelievable happened. Tory told us that we had a phone call. I could not imagine who knew that we were there. On the phone was Debra who is an employee at the Intown Inn in Merritt. She explained that she knew of our situation and had posted our story on Facebook. No less than seven people offered to pay for a hotel room for us should we not be able to get on the bus! Debra said that she would personally drive us to the bus depot in the morning. We had not even thought of there being a possibility that we could not get home that evening. We had only enough money for bus fare home. To Debra and the seven people who only cared that we were in need, I cannot properly express what that means to us. I have told many people this story and not only do I cry when I tell it, so do they.
Debra and those anonymous seven people, you are not strangers, you are friends. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all. We will never forget what you were willing to do for people that you had never met.
Merritt, your greatest resource is your people, and I am grateful to you all.
Donna Fitzsimmons
Salmon Arm, B.C.
