Some things are priceless and to 13-year-old Nicole, it’s a precious bear knitted by a relative. That bear is now lost and Nicole is devastated.
Nicole and her younger sister Anastasia were travelling through Grand Forks with family friend Melanie Hall-Szyszkiewicz. The girls were practicing dances and cartwheels by the fountain on Market Ave. in the summer sun and Nicole’s backpack was left behind—so was the bear, nestled inside.
“When we realized it, we drove back, all three of us chanting, ‘We wish we find Nicole’s backpack,’ saying it over and over. But the backpack was gone,” Hall-Szyszkiewicz said.
The most amazing thing happened hours later, she said. “It was five hours later in another part of town, in the park, on the stage by the grandstands, a place we had not been to before. Nicole and Anastasia were doing some dancing demonstrations on stage, and then Anastaia yelled, ‘Nicole, look, it’s your backpack.”
It was indeed Nicole’s backpack leaning against a pillar on the side of the stage; however, the entire backpack had been emptied. No money, no clothing, no bear.
“The strangest thing is the bear was left in Vancouver at a hotel on May 12 and I had just picked it up from the hotel lost and found , and brought it back to Kelowna. Then this happened,” Hall-Szyszkiewicz said. “So now I wish I could be a part of bringing the bear home again.”
If you can help bring the bear home to Nicole—no questions asked—contact the Gazette at 250-442-2191 ext 207 or drop off the bear at the Gazette office at 7330 Second St.