WATCH: The story of an NDG family that had its wheelchair-adapted van stolen inspired a Montreal teacher and her class to spend their holidays paying it forward. Anne Leclair has details.
MONTREAL — The story about an NDG family whose wheelchair-adapted van was stolen last month inspired a teacher and her students to spend the holidays paying it forward.
Sophie Giroux was devastated the day she found out her neighbours’ adapted van was stolen on Decarie Boulevard just before Christmas.
READ MORE: Father and 8-year-old son devastated over adapted van theft
She knows how much the 8-year-old disabled boy and his father rely on the vehicle, so she was determined to help find it.
“The first thing I thought is how can I help him.”
“The first thing I did was just post it on Facebook, and then I thought ‘What’s a bigger way for more people to keep an eye out for his van?’ and then it came to me to contact the media,” said Giroux, adding “And he got it back, amazing!”
After seeing that her small gesture helped track down the stolen van, she decided to share the story with her students.
“I shared with them the video from Global News when Fernando was crying because he wanted his van back and it had all these girls crying in the class,” said Giroux.
“Some of them got very inspired.”
“They got to see first hand how doing something small can make a big difference.”
READ MORE: NDG family thrilled after adapted van is found
The students were thrilled to see the second story a few days later, when the van was finally found.
“I was really happy that they found it honestly, I love my teacher for that I’m not gonna lie,” said Camille Ametchi, one of Giroux’s students.
READ MORE: Questions raised over scrap-yard where stolen adapted van was found
But the lesson didn’t stop there.
Paying it forward
After sharing the story in class, Giroux asked her students to find their own way to help others over the holidays.
“I told them it could be anything, like shovel someone’s driveway if you see that they’re sick or old or it’s hard for them and just tell us how it made you feel how it made them feel,” said Giroux.
Close to 200 students from École secondaire Mont-Royal handed in their English assignment last week, appropriately called “Pay It Forward.”
The videos document their random acts of kindness, ranging from handing out hats and gloves to the homeless, to donating toys and handmade activity books to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
“There are a lot of kids that feel alone in the hospital and this might help them,” said Shirine El-Hajj Sleiman, a Secondary-4 student.
“It was a great project because instead of staying home and watching TV, we really did something good for the community,” said Anastasia Balan.
The video project not only helped the francophone students brush up on their English skills, it has taught them an important life lesson.
“We didn’t have to do much.”
“We learned that by doing one simple action we can change someone’s day, said Balan.
The students also have a new-found respect for their teacher.
“She’s a good example for us, she totally inspired us,” said Shindiya Ratman.
“A little small thing can make a big difference.”
And Giroux’s has managed to show them first-hand that kindness can be contagious.
“It’s important, sometimes we forget living in a big city to help our neighbours,” said the English teacher.
“Some people don’t ask for help, it’s just something easy, a little small thing can make a big difference.”
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