Good Samaritan replaces 83-year-old veteran's stolen scooter before Remembrance Day

An 83-year-old Abbotsford resident has a new ride just in time for tomorrow’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, all thanks to a very kind Good Samaritan.

Burt Wiebe’s electric scooter was stolen sometime on Friday morning, prompting police to issue a public plea for anyone who might have seen the missing scooter. The thief, described as a Caucasian male in his 40s, apparently identified himself as “Kevin” and offered to fix a broken headlight before proceeding to steal the scooter from the local legion.

The incident sparked a huge outpouring in the local community, and earlier today at 3:30 p.m. a replacement scooter was presented to the veteran, who was with a large group of people at the Legion.

“My company deals with seniors all the time so in doing so we get to hear lots of great stories and meet lots of great people who do not have a lot but have given a lot,” Chris Kehler of Surrey’s Coast Bathing Solutions told Vancity Buzz. “And we had an opportunity… we have a scooter in our warehouse, donated to us a number of years ago. It’s basically brand new but we didn’t know what to do with it.”

“When this came out, we immediately knew we wanted to donate it and give something back.”

Kehler also added that the incident struck a cord given that one of his uncle’s also fought in the Korean War.

As for Wiebe’s reaction to being given a new scooter, Kehler says he was absolutely thrilled given that it was a life necessity in order to be able to get around.

Kehler hopes to raise $15,000 to buy three scooters to help other veterans get around.