Scooter News Scooter Community helps Thea When we heard about this story we just had to give it some air-time. Community helps out fellow scooterist in time of need.
Allen Drysdale Thea Jones, a University Student working two jobs on the NSW/Victorian border city of Albury woke one night to the sounds of a scooter in flames.
You see somebody had performed the cowardly act of setting her only means of transport alight, a Honda Today that she had bought 2nd hand to get about town. Thea used the Today to attend University and get to work and just like any other student these days budgets were tight and the frugal Today performed a task. Being short on cash, and a second hand scooter Thea didn't have insurance.
Now after the fire brigade had gone, all that remained of the Honda Today was a charcoal mess and resurrection was certainly out of the question. Come in Nic Wilke a local long term Scooter Community website member and moderator who heard about Thea's plight and quickly spread the word amongst its members asking for donations to get Thea back on the road
Nic said "It was fantastic to help out a person in a time of need. Crimes like theses are treated with little regard, and as it was only a scooter, and no one was injured, it would normally go un-noticed"
The management of Scooter Community soon leapt to Thea's cause starting a paypal donation appeal. The response was inspirational to say the least with a total of $1975 being raised in just over 7 days to get Thea back onto two wheels. Donations came from far and wide with donations even being received from countries such as Japan and Canada, making this a truly global effort.
The end result in raising the money saw Thea back on two wheels in less then a fortnight. Select Scoota importer for SYM in Australia performed a mammoth effort as after hearing about Theas situation they promptly delivered a brand new SYM Jollie with top box. They also supplied an SYM jacket and other goodies, just amazing.
But it doesn't stop there. Full comprehensive insurance was provided by Sydney Scooter dealer Scooter Central as well and with the money raised Thea had enough left over to cover all her on-road costs.
Cameron Saunders GM of Scooter Community went onto say " When ScooterCommunity.com.au first heard about Thea’s plight from one of our moderators, we thought there had to be some way we could help. One of our members from Albury, Dozer, offered his graphic design services in the hope a dealer could offer a scoot, but knowing how much the trade has taken a hit this year, we decided to recruit the help of the entire scootercommunity instead. This was new territory for us, and the result was quite overwhelming. In less than two weeks, we had raised enough to get Thea back on a brand new SYM scoota, complete with rego, top box and comprehensive insurance. We were so proud of the support offered by our members. And really, it came as no surprise to know the members are happy to give a little back to the forum when in need"
Scootersales.com.au contacted Thea who just couldn't believe that something like this could happen to her.
She went onto say, "Today i was the humble recipient of a brand new black SYM Jolie, thanks to the help of all on the Scooter Community. I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am. This is, without a doubt, the nicest thing that has ever been done for me."
A truly inspirational effort by all those on the Scooter Community website who banded together to make a difference.
Local media "The Border Mail" ran an article over the weekend and you can see that HERE
The end result of the fire, order up one slightly overdone Honda Today. From this........
To this, one happy individual with her brand new SYM Jollie
Scott from Select Scoota hands over the new SYM Scoota to Thea.
Scott takes some time out to teach Thea a few maintenance tips on the Jollie.
published 10/08/2009 |