Labor Day Giving

My wife and I decided we would spend the Labor Day Holiday riding the motorcycle to visit my parents on Saturday and ride back up on Sunday.  While at my parents the Pay It Forward program which Paradigm Technologies Inc. is participating in came up.  We actually discussed that while a good program it just did not fit into our charitable endeavors for the year.    

The weather report for Sunday was clear and sunny for the trip, so we were very surprised as we were crossing into Virginia around 9am to be hitting some pretty heavy rain.   We decided as we were not in a hurry we were going to seek shelter at the next exit.   Arriving at a lone gas station at the exit we were sitting in front of the vending machines as it was the only place to get out of the rain.  The only other vehicle around was a late model Ford explorer with a crib and baby stroller strapped to the roof and the windows were all fogged up.   As we sat there life begin to emerge from the vehicle and we noticed people moving around.  A young man got out and after taking care of some things we engaged him in conversation.  He was clearly troubled and not having a good day.   

We discovered that the family had broken down around 2am when a “freeze plug” blew out of his engine dumping the radiator on the road.   They limped into this gas station and the lone attendant could do nothing more than call a tow truck and they have been waiting for help since 2am.    We quickly discovered that in the truck were a 4 yr old, 18 month old and a 7 month pregnant women.   Over the course of the day we learned they were leaving North Carolina as they have been un-employed for 6 months, all there possessions were in that truck and they needed to get to upstate Pennsylvania.   They had a friend who could put them up and had a possible job for him.  We later learned they could stay with the friend, but there is no job right now.   

We were able to get a tow truck to come out but were concerned that we could not find a place open on a Sunday to help us.  The driver told us of one of those quick service type garages in the area, but that they really didn’t do repairs, but would not hurt to ask.  We arranged for him to tow their car.  I explained to Frank (the father) that all we asked is that they not pass by the next person who needed help and to pay forward what they were getting today.   He was very grateful.  Unbeknown to us, when we arrived at the garage the tow truck driver who had over heard our offer decided that he really didn’t need to charge for the tow and gave us our money back.  

The driver was right though, the garage would not fix the truck.  We talked to a couple of the workers and found out it was not that difficult and they knew how to do it, they were just not allowed on the clock.   Frank and I went to an auto part store and got the part for less then $3 and bought the minimum of tools we thought we would need.   So now we are in the parking lot trying to work out the old freeze plug and it was not being cooperative.   The manager came out and let us know that they could move a display from under a tent and we could use that to get out of the rain.   As we are running into trouble the mechanics started to come out and help with an issue, then go back inside.   In the end we had two mechanics working full time helping us for about 2 hours.   They explained they were soldiers working part time and were stationed at the nearby base.  They could not leave this family with a pregnant mother stranded in the rain.  After the repairs were done the test revealed another freeze plug was also leaking.  The mechanics basically pushed us out of the way and made short order of the work that had taken us hours.   In the end, even the manager who said they could not do it was helping.  The two soldiers actually tried to turn down payment, but we felt that was not right as they were only there to earn extra cash to support their families, so we provided them with $40 each. 

We noticed the family had not been eating during our time with them and it was almost 2 in the afternoon.  We had been feeding the kids our food, but the parents ate nothing.  Not good for a pregnant women.    We decided the best thing was to go to the local grocery store and get them food for the road.   We wanted to provide a few days worth of food, rather than just a meal at a restaurant.   You would think this was the end of the story. 

We provided them our number and address and asked them to let us know how the trip went.   That evening after we got home we received a call letting us know they were close to DC and a freeze plug had blown out on the other side of the engine.  They were actually at our exit.  We went down and hooked up with them, but it was too late to do anything that evening.  As luck would have it, our son and his family were traveling to their house going right past where we were.  He stopped to help.  He contacted a friend (amazingly when he called they were at the exact intersection we were at).  Between the too of them they got a hold of a friend who owned a tow truck, owed them a favor and agreed to come out and provide a free tow to my son’s house.  We provided the gas money, who would think we could get two free tows in the same day.  

My son and his family had been down on their luck lately and were just getting back on their feet.  They had received help in the past and my son said it was time to pay back.  They asked if the family could stay with them for the night and they would see what they could do for the truck the next morning.   When we arrived Monday morning, the family had finally had a good night sleep, showers, dinner and a hearty breakfast.  They said it was the first time in a long time they got to sleep in a real house, and real bed.  As luck would have it, my daughter in laws father is a master mechanic and a auto shop teacher at a local school.  When they heard what my son and their daughter were doing they drove the hour down to help.  When we got there, they had the truck torn down and repairs under way.    By 2 pm they had replaced all the remaining freeze plugs and had the truck ready to go.  As we had slowly learned the real situation of the family over night, we ensured they had gas money to get them to their friend’s house and a full tank of gas.