Sometimes the greatest acts can come from a dark place. Sometimes a small gesture can change a person’s entire day.
While Colwood, along with the rest of the West Shore, was being pounded by a storm Nov. 17, it was small gestures made by residents that stood out in the minds and hearts of city staffers, not the widespread power outages, school closures, traffic delays, downed trees and drainage issues they spent the day dealing with.
“Storms bring out the best in some people,” said Sandra Russell, Colwood’s communication manager. “People pull together in really nice ways.”
One bylaw officer in particular was blown away by a Colwood resident’s random act of kindness in the midst of horizontal rain and relentless winds.
Phil Williams was directing traffic at Sooke Road and Belmont Avenue. He received a nice surprise while he was setting up cones, from a man who dashed over.
“(The man) thrust a Tim Hortons bag into (Williams’) hands,” relayed Russell, adding the Good Samaritan was gone as quickly as he appeared. The bag was filled with sandwiches and other goodies for the crews working in the storm. Williams told Russell, “it was an act of kindness that made it all worth it.”
Another bylaw officer, Kevin Atkinson, was driving through the storm along Sooke Road near Royal Roads University when he noticed a little boy walking on the side of the road alone. While that may not have been a curious sight on any other day, something about seeing the boy out in the storm, being blown around, didn’t sit right with the bylaw officer.
He wheeled his vehicle around and as he did so, received a radio call that West Shore RCMP were searching for a eight-year-old boy who was unaccounted for from John Stubbs Memorial school.
“He was able to take the child to a warm, safe place,” said Russell, adding the boy was the missing child in question.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com