Help Bring Darryl Home

Our names are Pascale and Nicolas. In July 2022, we decided to go on a road trip from Quebec to Banff, Alberta. Nicolas had been planning to propose to me and had gotten an engagement ring custom-made before we left for our trip. We made several stops along our way to Banff, one of them being Calgary. While in Calgary, we decided to do some rafting on the Bow River. Unfortunately, when we came back from rafting, someone had broken into our vehicle and stolen our wallets, jewelry, laptop, and Nicolas' bag which had the engagement ring hidden inside a sock! We immediately got the police involved and although they were able to get some video footage of the thief, they were unable to find him since he had purposely concealed his licence plate. We were heart broken and sick to our stomachs at the thought that something so special had been robbed from us and that Nic's engagement plan, which he had put so much thought into, had been ruined. An engagement is a once in a lifetime event and he wanted it to be so special! We made the most out of our remaining two weeks of the trip, and Nic even decided to go ahead and propose without a ring! We waited for a call from the police with good news, but unfortunately the days passed and nothing came about. We had accepted the fact that our custom-made ring which Nic had put so much thought into was gone and that we would need to get a new one once we got back home to Quebec.

Fast forward to August 15th. We are now back home from our trip. It is night time and we are getting ready for bed. My phone rings and I see that the call is coming from Calgary. I pick up the call and this man introduces himself as Darryl. He begins telling me his story: he has been homeless since December 2021, when his home caught fire on Christmas day. He went back in the fire to rescue his mom and 3 cats, but not having insurance, he was left with nothing but a piece of ID and $50. Since this tragedy, he now spends his days camping out in a park downtown Calgary and rummaging through bushes and garbage bins to find food and money to survive. One day shortly after we were robbed, Darryl was out rummaging and he came across Nic's bag, which had been thrown out by the river after the thief had taken Nic's wallet out and thrown out the "unnecessary". Darryl decided to bring the bag back to his tent. He searched through it and he found our engagement ring hidden in the sock!!! Darryl admitted that he thought about selling it to make money to buy food, but had been unable to do so as he could not imagine dealing with the amount of guilt that would come afterwards and in the back of his mind, kept thinking about the couple who had lost their beloved ring. He mentioned that stealing was not part of his values and was not an integral part of who he is. He decided to hold on to the ring and see what could be done. Word got around that Darryl had been holding on to this ring and it got to a point where other homeless individuals were breaking in to Darryl's tent, trying to steal the ring from him so that they could sell it and make money from it. Darryl decided to get rid of the box so that it would be easier to conceal the ring and kept it safe with him. One night, as Darryl was going through Nic's clothes in the backpack, a small business card fell out with my number written on it. He decided to take a chance and call the number. This was the phone call that we received on August 15th! That night, Darryl agreed to meet with the police officer who had been in charge of our case, and handed over the ring to the officer. The ring is now on its way to Quebec!

We were overjoyed to find out that our precious ring had been found, and even more happy when we spoke to Darryl and got to see how big of a heart he has! We asked what we could do to thank him and he mentioned that he frequently suffers from hunger as he only receives one small baggie of food per week and is only able to eat non-perishables since he does not have any propane to cook. He also mentioned that he could benefit from a space heater since the nights are getting longer and cooler in his tent. We agreed to send him a giftcard for Wal-Mart, but I feel that this is not enough given everything that Darryl has done for us. We have spoken over the phone multiple times now, and Darryl truly is an amazing individual with beautiful values, who was simply the victim of bad luck when his house was destroyed in a fire this past Christmas. He spoke to us about his wishes and all of the hard work he is putting into getting off the streets and back into a new home, and we want to help him with this. Darryl easily could've made money off of this ring to help feed himself, but he chose to do the right thing and return it to its owners, all while considering our feelings in this situation. We cannot thank Darryl enough and we will always remember him and his kind heart! Plus we now have a pretty great story to tell about our engagement!

Please consider donating any amount possible! Even $5 can go a long way for Darryl in his search for a new apartment and place to call his home. Thank you all and THANK YOU Darryl!