MEDICINE HAT, AB — A Medicine Hat woman decided to give away her old minivan to pay it forward.
Kayla Oldford posted on Facebook on March 8, offering to give away her minivan to someone in need.
She says she wanted to thank the Medicine Hat community, who helped her when she fled from a relationship with her three month old son last year.
“Almost exactly a year ago I was in a bad position where I had to leave a relationship and I started from scratch pretty much,” says Oldford. “I had a half an hour to kind of pack up what I could so that really left me without so much as a wash cloth really.”
She decided to reach out, and the community rallied around her.
“I reached out to a lot of the community on Facebook asking for help and the response was really heartwarming and overwhelming,” says Oldford. “A lot of people helped me by donating things as small as facecloths to a lamp. I also got some help from other community programs like thePregnancy Support Centre, (community) housing, the FoodBank, the Women’s Shelter.”
Now, Oldford says she’s in a better spot where she was able to purchase a more reliable small vehicle for her and her son.
So, she decided to give away her old van, asking for submissions on Facebook from people that could use it.
She received more than 40 submissions, but decided on a young woman who’s about to be a single mom.
“The person that I chose, I had help choosing, ended up being somebody that’s going to be a single mom soon here and she’s looking at furthering her education,” says Oldford. “So she’s still looking to help herself in this situation, she just needed a little hand up when her vehicle died.”
Oldford says she hopes the actions inspire others to pay it forward as well.
”Paying it forward, it doesn’t have to be as big as a van, it can be buying someone a coffee, giving someone some kind words, helping out with your time when you can, giving someone a lamp, just something small and yeah I hope it inspires people,” says Olford. “I hope it inspires people not only to pay it forward but to also to recognize that even if you’re in a tough situation you know there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Things do get better.”
