Shea Anker, the legally blind UNBC student who discovered her specialized Braille Sense U2 QWERTY computer stolen from her locker on Oct. 4, has been the beneficiary of the generosity of Prince George residents.
With a knot in his stomach, Luke Hutchison, a local graphic and web designer, read the story in The Citizen about how Anker's three-year-old computer was stolen and what that would mean to any student trying to cope with continuing their education, let alone a blind single mother struggling to make ends meet.
How was Anker, who was born blind and lives on a fixed income, ever going to be able to replace such an expensive piece of equipment with an estimated value of $6,200?
Hutchison immediately answered his own question by starting a gofundme page explaining the situation and asking for the kindness of strangers to help turn this anthropology student's luck around.
"If you can help someone, just do something, right?" said Hutchison.
"It was just a small thing for me to open up a gofundme page - it literally took 20 minutes."
A staff member from Van-Kam Freightways Ltd. saw the story online and followed the link to the gofundme page and put the fundraising effort over the top with a contribution of $5,000.
In one weekend, $10,200 was raised so not only could Anker get the Braille Sense now valued at $7,200 but she was also able to purchase other pieces of technical equipment that will make reading her text books, notes and assignments much easier.
"It was really great to see that the community came together all within one weekend to help out a fellow Prince George citizen," said Hutchison.
"It's so hard to be a student - I was a student for eight years - and I couldn't imagine something like that happening to me - all the assignments and mid-terms and classes - and everything happening all at once."
Anker said she really appreciates Hutchison's efforts and is happy that her new computer is lighter and sleeker than the last model and easier to set up and use.
"I really, really want to thank Luke for setting up the page in the first place because without him I doubt I would have had the nerve to do that - it felt really weird to agree to it because I just can't imagine saying 'please give me money!' but if he didn't do it who knows if I ever would have gotten a replacement," said Anker.
"That Braille Sense is definitely something I need for class and I really, really missed having it and I thank Luke from the bottom of my heart."
Anker went on to thank Colin Slark, editor in chief from UNBC's Over the Edge newspaper, for his support.
"I can't say enough about how I appreciate everyone's help with this," said Anker.
"I'm always a very optimistic person and quite trusting and when this happened the response to it told me I was right in thinking that there are lots and lots of really good people in this world."
