Students surprise Cambridge family with keys to new van
Heise family was expecting a financial donation, but not the keys to a new car
The Heise family knew something was coming, but they never expected to receive a $10,190 cheque and keys to a new minivan Friday morning during an assembly at Huron Heights Secondary School in Kitchener.
"I thought there was going to be a small donation to my family," Terri Heise told CBC News. "I had no idea. No idea. This is blowing me away, seriously."
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Heise lives in Cambridge with her daughters Maddie, 16, and Sophie, 10. She needed a new vehicle for work, to pick up her daughters from school, and to take Sophie to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto for ongoing cancer treatment.
At the end of a school assembly, students with Huron Heights's business leadership course presented Heise and Sophie with the cheque and a small box, which contained the keys to a new Dodge minivan.
"I am incredibly numb, incredibly overwhelmed," she said. "I know that the school and the young men and women who did this are amazing. It's just been incredible."
Heise and her daughters will be visiting her husband, who is in a long-term care facility in Niagara Falls, for the holidays and she said she will feel safer driving there in her new van.
'It felt amazing'
Each year, students Huron Heights are in charge of raising funds for a local family in need though the school's Charity Silent Auction.
In October, the business leadership class received donations from local businesses around the region, which they auctioned on Dec.7.
"I've been excited about this for so long," said Alita Yon, a Grade 12 student in the course. "It felt amazing just because the [van] was the main thing she wanted. The fact that we got the money and the car was just amazing. I teared up and wanted to cry."
The class originally wanted to raise money to help Terri buy a new vehicle, but instead got help from Mark Ell and Gareth Armour with Galt Chrysler, who donated the van.
Armour said he heard about Terri's story through his brother-in-law, a teacher at Huron Heights, and sent Ell, the general manager, a letter asking if they could help.
"I had to read it twice because I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Ell told CBC News."It was hard to keep a dry eye after seeing [Terri's reaction]."
