There was an immediate response from the community Friday when a member of the public posted The Citizen story to the Hell Yeah Prince George Facebook page about how thieves made off with Scouts Canada canoes and the North Breast Passage Dragon Boat Society's life jackets and paddles stored at the scouts' Camp Hughes on West Lake.
Davy Greenlees, deputy area commissioner for properties for the local branch of Scouts Canada, who discovered the break-in on June 29, saw the community reach out.
"The first one to pick up on it was Boston Pizza and they contacted us and donated $500 out of their Jeans Day fund to do repairs to the camp or assist with purchasing a canoe and they are also donating $500 to the Dragon Boat ladies," said Greenlees. "And then Dan Moffat at Northern Hardware contacted me and asked me to come over to see what we could find that we needed and I got there and he just started piling up life jackets and paddles and stuff we've been needing for a while, so that's pretty cool."
Greenlees said Moffat has also offered all the hardware the Scouts need to secure Camp Hughes again as the chain on the entrance gate was cut and all the buildings were broken into sometime between June 26 and 29.
Individuals have also reached out to Greenlees to donate and help out.
"It was great that it got into everybody's eyes," said Greenlees. "We remain hopeful that through the donations we will be able to replace the canoes - that would be great."
The Prince George community has once again come through with their generosity, said Greenlees.
"Thank you Prince George, you always pull together when somebody needs it and that's all that I could ask for," said Greenlees.
Sharon Parrett, vice president of the North Breast Passage Dragon Boat Society, had a similar outpouring of generosity from the community, she said.
"It's been amazing," said Parrett. "We got $1,000 from an anonymous donor, and we had Opinion 250 donate $500, and Boston Pizza came through with $500 so it has just been incredible."
It looks like that might be enough to replace the life jackets and paddles the society lost during the theft, Parrett added.
"It was really unexpected and incredibly kind of everyone," said Parrett. "Thank you everyone and we hope to one day be in a position to pay it forward."
