Stolen charity gifts at Burlington GO lead to holiday spirit
After the break-in of a vehicle at a GO station, Metrolinx sent a call to replace the swiped gifts.
Dec 23, 2021
There’s no good time to have your car broken into, and no stolen items that don’t leave a pit in a victim’s stomach
But when a vehicle was robbed while parked at the Burlington GO Station earlier in December, the loss was a hit to the holiday spirit.
Among the items stolen from one of the vehicles were 30 pairs of gloves, hats and mittens that were to be donated to the Hamilton area outreach group – The Hub.
The Hub is located in downtown Hamilton (not far from Hamilton GO) and does a lot of work around poverty, homelessness and addiction. While it serves the entire community, there is a lot of focus on helping teens.
Donations are taken out of the back of a Metrolinx vehicle, and delivered to The Hub. (Matt Llewellyn photo)
To help replace the stolen goods, and get them to The Hub, Metrolinx’s Media Relations team sent out a call to fellow staff for donations. Bags and bags of new socks, gloves and winter hats were collected – about three times the goal – and today (Dec. 23), it was all handed over to Olivia Divinski, the owner of the vehicle that was ransacked.
“It’s absolutely amazing, I don’t even care about the car anymore,” said Divinski. “I’m just so glad that something negative turned into such a positive, especially around the holidays.”
The donations head toward The Hub, and people who can use the warmth. (Matt Llewellyn photo)
Bags of socks, gloves and hats were collected. (Matt Llewellyn photo)
From left to right, Olivia Divinski, outreach workers from The Hub, along with Metrolinx customer protective services and Hamilton Police, accepting the donations. (Matt Llewellyn photo)
This isn’t a story about patting the backs of Metrolinx staff – though, those who organized the collection or contributed to it deserve a shout-out. But it is more of a reminder that no matter how some spend time looking for wrong ways to take things away, there will always be those who will come together to make things right.
