The Salvation Army thrift store in Swift Current, Sask., recently reunited a local woman with a sentimental item that belonged to her late sister.

Unexpected Encounter

Demi Peterson was walking in downtown Swift Current with a friend when she happened by the thrift store’s display window. When she saw the blue-and-white cruiser bike, she stopped in her tracks. She knew immediately that it was the same one that had been stolen from her yard last year.

“I was out with a friend downtown, and we couldn’t find parking, so we ended up walking past The Salvation Army,” Demi explains. “I wasn’t even meant to be on the street that day, let alone downtown. I looked up, and right there is the bike sitting in the window.

“I couldn’t even speak a word to my friend. I just went right in.”

Emotional Transaction

Typically, items in the display window are reserved for silent auction, one way the thrift store raises money for local Salvation Army community programs in Swift Current, so Demi wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get the bike back.

Demi shared her story with the person working the till, who called the manager, Lori Reimer, to see what they could do. While waiting for Lori, a woman shopping in the store overheard the situation and offered to help Demi get the bike back.

“I come upstairs, and there is a woman there, and she’s crying,” remembers Lori. “She starts to tell me the story about how the bike in the window was stolen last summer from her yard and how that bike belonged to her sister, who had recently died. She wanted to know how she could get the bike back.

“Demi showed me a picture of the bike from when she posted on Facebook that it was missing, but I could tell it was a true story. So we went into the window, and I pulled the bike out and gave it to her. She thanked me, and it was very emotional all the way around.”

"It’s just so lovely to be part of such a good community where people are willing to help a stranger.”  LORI REIMER

“A Soft Presence”

“And what was so lovely about it was we also had a customer in the store at the time who had oered to pay for the bike, and there was a gentleman who helped her when she left with the bike. It’s just so lovely to be part of such a good community where people are willing to help a stranger,” Lori says.

“So much kindness yesterday, and I am still in shock,” Demi wrote in a Facebook post in the Swift Current Compliments group. “I want to send out the absolute biggest thank you to the ladies at The Salvation Army yesterday. The lady working the till, the manager, the lady in line behind me who offered help and the man who held the door open for me afterward. Thank you to everyone involved. I was ready to pay any amount to get this bike back in my possession, and I am blown away by everyone’s kindness.”

Lori says that while this was a special circumstance, the thrift store is often a place of community connection.

“It’s a soft presence of the church,” she says. “We’re in a really good location, and lots of people walk by. At the till, Dawnell is very kind and very involved with the community. She’ll know if somebody has had a fire and knows the need. We also have people who come in every day. I think we’re just a place to go to see a friendly face. We are very missional in our intention.”

Photo: Kristin Marand

Kristin Marand is the manager of communications for The Salvation Army’s Prairies and Northern Territories Division. With a background in media and a passion for weaving language and sharing stories, Kristin is a proud Métis on her own journey of reclamation. 

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