Flood of community support for Sault Ste. Marie boy who had bike stolen

A Sault Ste. Marie mother and her young son are expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the community and a local sporting goods store for helping them recover from a distressing incident.

Roz Anderson said her eight-year-old son, Hudson, was riding his bike on Mother's Day weekend – when the unthinkable happened.

"Hudson was riding his bike up and down our own neighbourhood street," Anderson said.

"Unfortunately, he was followed by a man, chased by a man and forcibly taken his bike."

She called the police about the incident and then took to social media in an effort to locate the bike.

"I thought if it was on auction, maybe someone could make note of it," Anderson said.

"What I wasn't expecting was how much public support that we got."

Anderson's post soon garnered hundreds of shares and comments on social media.

Among those who saw the post was the manager of the local Sport Chek store.

"I thought to myself, what a poor experience for a kid," said Joe Carbone, the retail store's manager.

"A first bike or even a bike at any time, especially going into the summer, that's your mode of transportation."

Carbone said he reached out to Anderson with an offer to replace the stolen bicycle free of charge.

"I was happy to be able to help and that we were able to reach out and do the right thing for him," he said.

"Bikes are expensive and they're not easily replaced," Anderson said.

"I just couldn't believe it. These things don't happen everyday, right? So, something good happened out of something pretty negative."

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As for Hudson, he said he can't wait to take his new bike out for a spin.

"I think it's amazing and this is really nice of you guys to do this," Hudson said to the staff at Sport Chek when picking up his new bicycle.

SportChek in Sault Ste. Marie gave eight-year-old Hudson a new bike for free after a man stole his while he was riding it. June 2/23 (Mike McDonald/CTV Northern Ontario)

"I wasn't expecting it."

A fundraiser had initially been launched to replace Hudson's bike. But now, the family now plans to use the money that was raised to purchase gift certificates for other children who have had their bicycles stolen.