What started out to be a simple act of kindness , turned out to be a heartfelt thank you from many!

As you know, “The Bike Lady” read the story of the spiderman bike being stolen from a little boy in Rockland.  Not wanting this child to be hurt and not believe in good people, she went to Walmart, bought bike, helmet and lock, drove 2 hours and presented this new bike to the Rockland Police Department to give to Will.  This is where the story becomes special!  Upon talking to the police department, it was discovered that she spent her only money for this little boy, and used money from the Walmart employee to pay tolls and gas.  To add to the story, she was living in her car as she had to give up her apartment due to increased rent.  She could only afford to pay for rent or car, and she chose to keep the car as not to ruin her cosigners credit.

Once MCRC heard of this from The Rockland Police, Iain Kirkham, our Director of Operations offered to spearhead a collection for this woman.

The donations started coming in from not only Maine, but across the country and even overseas.

 (from left) Rockland Police Chief Tim Carroll; Ian Kirkham, director of operations for the Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition; Alexis Fuller-Wright; Darlene Plasse-Young; Liz Fuller-Wright; Lura Robinson who serves on the Board of the Recovery Coalition; and Deputy Police Chief Alex Gaylor.

MCRC was blessed to be able to send the amount of $11,902 to GM Financial for payment on her car.  This did not pay it off, however made a dent in the balance.  She was beyond thankful.

Darlene, Officers from the Rockland Police Department, Wills mothers as well as Iain Kirkham and Lura Robinson from MCRC were able to meet and present the donations to her.

“Thankful , so very thankful !  Today was definitely a weight lifted off my shoulders, thank you for all who came forward and made this also possible today, still emotional hard to feel it’s so real and how many people reached out and still can ! ”  Darlene Plasse-Young (The bike lady)

If you would still like to donate to Darlene, please mail check to PO Box 1002, Camden, ME 04843 or donate to our website.  If you donate through Paypal, please make sure to shoot us an email letting us know it is for her.