A man from Regina Beach, Sask., was praised in a social media post for returning a lost backpack to a man from Sherwood Park, Alta.
On March 31, Chad Czako was boarding a sky train in Vancouver and noticed someone had forgotten their backpack. Inside was a laptop, car keys and other important stuff. Czako was hesitant about digging in the bag but he knew he had to find the rightful owner.
“As I searched in the bag, I found a black book and inside was a name,” he said. “I found his number and gave (him) a call and he picked up right away. I asked if he lost a backpack and he said ‘yes’ … I (said) if he needed me to turn around on the sky train, I can do that.”
The backpack owner, Bill Tonita, was at the airport. He told Czako that he will catch the next flight as he waited for him to arrive with the backpack.
Almost an hour later, the two met at the airport and gave each other a hug before parting ways.
When asked why he took the time out of his day to give a stranger his lost items, Czako said it was important for the owner to get his stuff back.
“We’ve all lost something before, whether it be a phone or a wallet. We all get (that) panicked feeling,” said Czako. “With everything going on in the world, it’s the small things right now that are the big things for everybody. If I could do that small gesture, then hopefully it will make others want to do better too.”
Tonita said Czako doing this great deed reaffirmed to him that there’s good in everyone.
“I was so impressed. I have a lot of faith in humanity to begin with and I’m always surprised by the goodness in people,” said Tonita. “Chad just proved that to me. He had no reason to go out of his way other than to help somebody.”
Tonita said he tried offering some money to Czako for his troubles, but it was refused. Czako simply asked that Tonita write a note on the Facebook business page called Bluebird Cafe located in Regina Beach that he and his brother own. Tonita happily agreed but he wanted to do something more.
“I felt it wasn’t good enough … so I (also) wrote a blog post on my own Facebook page,” Tonita said, which received thousands of views, shares and comments. “I’ve heard from many people who said what a great guy he is.”
The two plan to keep in touch, with hopes of one day getting together again.
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