Paying it forward on the party bus

A party bus from Prince George to the Luke Bryan concert in Kelowna has turned into a goodwill joyride.

Luke Bryan is the denim heartthrob cranking out some of country music's biggest hits on recent radio. He is playing B.C. dates in Dawson Creek and Kelowna, but since he missed PG on this tour, the folks at 97Country organized a weekend getaway to the Okanagan date.

Twice, this past week, the seats on that bus became something extraordinarily special.

First, during an on-air contest to win a pair of seats on the bus, Randy Olexin was the top vote-getter when his idea was to donate the equivalent amount ($960) to the Canadian Cancer Society's 24-Hour Relay For Life. As the public's chosen favourite, he donated the money to next weekend's big event at Masich Stadium and will board the bus, with a companion, for free.

Then, with smoke still rising from the charred timbers of the Latitude Apartments on Westwood Drive, Richard Ring parlayed the Luke Bryan trip into another act of charity.

"He decided he would not go on the trip, I don't know why," said morning show co-host Kyle Wightman. Although he could have sold the tickets or given them away as he saw fit, Ring decided "they would be better used by someone who could really use them, and with the fire yesterday there were people who needed their spirits lifted, and this would help do that. He wanted to pay it forward."

Wightman and co-host Carol Gass knew of a couple who stood out among the many left homeless by the blaze: Jordan Pattie and her boyfriend Craig Miller.

"Jordan lives in the apartment building and also works out of her home, which was now gone," said Wightman. "She's been told by the firefighters that her apartment is unrecognizable. She was really impacted."

She and Miller are now in Ring's seats. The bus rolls out of Prince George at 7:30 a.m. this morning and comes back Monday.