It was a couple of nights before Christmas — Dec. 22 at 4:30 p.m. I was visiting my mother-in-law in Sudbury from the Niagara Peninsula, and I had a few last minute things to pick up at the stores.

On my way back to her house, I stopped at Toppers Pizza on Second Avenue to pick up a take out menu for later that evening. When I tried my SUV, it wouldn’t turn start.

It was freezing cold and windy. I wasn’t dressed properly for the weather and I knocked on the pick-up truck window next to me and asked this young gentleman if he could give me a boost.

He came to see what the problem was and noticed the ground cable to my battery was broken. He gave me a boost by connecting the cable to my starter, but this was just a quick solution to get me back to my hotel.

Now what? It’s the Saturday night before Christmas, nothing is open on Sunday and my plans are all about to change very fast.

This kind gentleman informed me he was a heavy machinery mechanic and he offered to come back to my hotel with his tools and fix the broken cable.

I really didn’t want him to give up his Saturday evening before Christmas so that he could fix my truck, but he insisted he didn’t mind, and I quickly realized I didn’t have many other options.

He returned to my hotel less than a half-hour later with everything he needed to make the repairs. I couldn’t believe that someone would go to such extremes to help out a stranger, but he did so without hesitation or expectation.

He did not cut any corners and replaced every cable, which he made himself, and all the clamps. The entire time I was watching him do the repairs, I couldn’t believe my luck in having this kind man there exactly when I needed him.

I would have had to leave my SUV at an unknown garage, rented a vehicle to get back home on the 24th and made arrangements to return to Sudbury another time to pick up my SUV.

I felt so blessed to have this Christmas angel, named Grant Currie, beside me at the exact moment I needed his expertise. I gave him all the cash I had, knowing it was not enough for all he did, but he said that it was enough.

I told Grant at the end that I was extremely grateful for everything he did and his gift to me was the best Christmas gift I ever received, and I meant it.

His humility and kindness is what stood out from the time I knocked on his window until the time he completed the work on my vehicle.

Thank God there are still people like Grant Currie. If you happen to know or see Grant, buy him a coffee in order to keep his heart warm. It was my Christmas miracle.

Thank you and Happy New Year to you, Grant Currie.

Andre Tisi
Fonthill, Ont.