When news broke of how thieves allegedly stole refundables from two Kelowna boys with autism, the community responded by donating thousands of bottles and cans.
Sean Starkes claims his two autistic sons, Wyatt and Quinton, had $500 worth of their hard-earned refundables stolen from their yard earlier this month.
The money supposedly was going to help pay for the cost of sending the kids to a special autism retreat in Alberta next month.
Starkes told CHBC News the facility was a private therapy camp that included horse riding therapy, schooling and a psychologist.
He also says the cost would come out to more than $5,000.
The problem is the Alberta autism camp does not exist.
Starkes also claimed the donations would pay for his sons to attend a therapeutic horse riding facility in Alberta next month.
The problem is the facility is closed for the season.
When CHBC News challenged Starkes on his story, he refused to speak to our reporter.
Many people, including Martin Strasser, suspect Starkes is taking advantage of the community’s goodwill towards his children.
“I’d be the first to admit I probably made a mistake in donating to this, I was just really touched,” Strasser said.
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Strasser had cut a $500 cheque from his company to the family but had second thoughts after watching a CHBC News story that revealed there were inaccuracies in Starke’s story.
On Wednesday, Starkes and his wife returned the $500 to Strasser, who is redirecting the money to a registered charity for disabled children
Starkes also made a surprise visit to Arion Farms in Kelowna, which offers therapeutic horse riding services.
“He said they raised more money than they thoughts, here’s $260 cash,” said Heather Henderson from Arion Farms.
Sun FM had mounted a public campaign blitz to raise donations for the family and collected approximately $7,000.
The station has now decided it would be better to donate the money to the Easter Seal Camp in Winfield, which caters specifically to kids with disabilities.
“This camp provides all sort of wonderful opportunities for kids with mental and physical disabilities and we get a lot of autistic kids, which these two boys are,” said Rick Harker with the Easter Seal Camp.
Harker is encouraging the Starks to apply to have Wyatt and Quinton attend the camp when it reopens for the summer.
Children attend the camp for free.
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