Homeless woman hailed a superhero for replacing boy's stolen bicycle and inspiring others to give

Getting our first bicycle as a child is a moment filled with excitement and joy. It happened to Will Fuller-Wright, 3, of Rockland, who could not contain his happiness when his parents bought him his first bike, a Spiderman model. Speaking to WMTV, the young boy explained why Spiderman is his favorite superhero: "Because he saves everybody by catching bad guys in the net." However, earlier this month, on Will's first day out with his Spiderman bike, it was stolen.

"We went to Walgreens. And we stopped and put his bike on the sidewalk and decided to give him a little candy treat and say 'woohoo, you made it half a mile," said Will's mother, Liz Fuller-Wright. "We came out, and the bike wasn't there. And I walked up and down the length of the sidewalk thinking because there were those big cement columns, so I thought maybe he couldn't see it. But it wasn't there."

The store's security camera captured someone taking the bike and riding away with it. "It was a mix of emotions. I mean, sad, disappointed, you know, angry at the state of humanity," said Fuller-Wright. "He's 3 years old. This is his first bike. And you don't want to think that anybody would do that."

The security camera footage was shared on Rockland Maine Police Department's Facebook page in an attempt to find the bike. This was when the story took an incredible turn. A homeless woman who wishes to be anonymous came forward to help the boy. She informed Maine's Total Coverage that she was in her car—which she lives in—at a gas station in Oxford County when she heard about the news.

She decided to help the boy. "What this little boy was thinking when he came out of that store with his mom and saw his bike missing, I cried. I worried about what that little boy would be growing up and thinking about the world. I went to Walmart, and I purchased the one and only bike and got him the helmet and the lock. And then I took it to Rockland," she said.

The woman shared that she spent the little money she had to buy the same bike. She dropped it off at the Rockland police station. When police posted the update on social media, the response was overwhelming and the Mid-coast Recovery Coalition is now accepting donations to help the woman. As of April 13, nearly $1,200 had been donated. By April 15, after this story was seen on Maine's Total Coverage, the number increased to $5,000. 

"I was able to give her a call. And we spoke for a few minutes. And she told me her story. And I just couldn't believe it," said Fuller-Wright. "She's not someone flushed with cash. But she gave so much so generously to a little boy she'd never met, never known. Because she wanted him to be happy. She didn't want him to think that there were bad guys in the world. She wanted him to have faith in humanity."

The woman reinforced this, saying: "I'd probably let him know that no matter what happens in life, we go through our troubles, our ups and downs, but there's always somebody out there that's watching over us. He's never alone."

Our faith in humanity is restored by people like this woman and we could not be more grateful!