Story by Matt Durnan
Kyle Aulenback with eight-year-old Leyland, whose quad was stolen earlier this week. Aulenback drove in to Chelmsford from Wahnapitae to buy Leyland a brand new quad on July 24. Supplied photo.
The kindness of strangers came through for one eight-year-old Sudbury boy and his mother.
Dawn Bunce received a startling text message on July 22, informing her that the camp where she stored her son Leyland's quad had been broken into, and the quad had been stolen.
For eight-year-old Leyland, the quad was more than just a means of fun and goofing around. He is autistic and the machine he had nicknamed “Thunder” was a form of therapy for him.
Bunce put the word out on Facebook about the stolen quad, posting pictures and telling the story about Leyland's attachment to the machine.
“It kind of went viral in a hurry and there was a lot of response,” said Bunce. “I think because there's a child involved it got a lot of attention. The quad is small and made for children so whoever stole it knew that they were stealing from a child.”
While social media at times can be extraordinarily vapid, instances like this one for Dawn and Leyland proved to be a Godsend.
Kyle Aulenback of Wahnapitae caught wind of the story through Facebook via a friend and he immediately sprung into action.
The 32-year-old got in touch with Bunce and arranged a Friday meeting at CarQuest in Chelmsford, where he bought Leyland a brand new quad.
“I've always had a soft spot for children with autism and for someone to take away an autistic child's therapy that just really got to me,” said Aulenback. “We met at CarQuest and I told Leyland to pick out the one he liked and he hopped right up on a red one and I told the guys at the shop I'll buy it.”
The staff at CarQuest pitched in on their end as well, giving Bunce and Leyland new helmets.
“We still hadn't been out to the camp to see what else might have been taken, so when the staff asked if we had helmets I honestly wasn't sure,” said Bunce. “They might have been taken as well, we had a few different things stored out there. It was so nice of them to do this for us.”
The past few days have been a whirlwind of emotion for Bunce who admitted that after Aulenback purchased a new quad for Leyland she had spent most of the day in tears.
“She (Bunce) was very emotional when I told her that I wanted to buy a new quad for Leyland,” said Aulenback. “She almost couldn't believe it was happening, but I'm just happy that I can help out, it was a great moment for me as well.”
