AFTER HIS friend’s house burned, one boy decided to help out by collecting spare change.
Tim Zettler, 12, thought it would be great if his friend Tyler Therrien, 12, could buy some of his favourite things that were lost in the fire that gutted his home in Copper Mountain Jan. 17.
Both attend Ecole Mountainview, the community’s French immersion school.
So Tim started asking people he knew and strangers too for spare change.
Along the way he was pleasantly surprised with people’s generosity.
“Yes, quite a bit, it’s astonishing,” said Zettler about people’s willingness to donate.
He began with a goal of $300 but ended up with more than $500, which was “pretty amazing,” he said.
Zettler thought about what it would be like to lose his things and came up with the idea to give his friend some spending money to take the financial burden off his parents, said Zettler’s mom Karen Ting.
He figured Therrien would like to buy some things for himself.
“Well I think it’s generally because he lost his games and I think his mom is just replacing the basics and I think he’d like to have his own things to buy himself,” said Zettler, adding he thought Therrien would use the money to buy some games and to help his mom too.
Zettler was able to get donations of coins from his friends at school without Therrien knowing beforehand what he was doing.
Zettler presented Therrien with the donations over the noon hour Feb. 3 at Ecole Mountainview.
The school had also put out the call for assistance for the family.
And Thornhill Primary School in Thornhill hosted a community movie and treats night Jan. 27 with monies raised there going to the Therrien family.