The power of social media helps track down good samaritan

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A good news story, that’s an example of the good in people, and the power of social media. Mary Lou and her husband Paul Bolen were in the middle of the second leg of their trip back to Toronto after a 2-week long dream vacation in Hawaii – when Mary Lou suddenly felt ill. While the team of flight attendants tended to Mrs. Bolen’s health, a complete stranger emerged from first class to help. “All of a sudden a man appeared in the doorway and he said ‘I’m going to give you my seat’ and he cleared his entire first class seat and I spent the rest of the flight laying down sleeping and this poor man was stuck in my middle row middle seat.” That stranger, now nicknamed ‘Rob from Ancaster’, left a mark with the Bolens. “We didn’t have a way to thank him but we promised to pay it forward.”

Mary Lou and Pauls son is CHCH’s own Tim Bolen. Once he heard his parent’s story, he was determined to seek out the good samaritan. “I have a bit of a medium where I can find this guy and I told my parents ‘I have to find this guy to actually thank him’.”

The search started with one tweet – and the power of social media took over. “Normally no one gives a hoot about what I say on social media – and it kept getting retweeted over and over again and Air Canada got a hold of me and asked how could we help”. And in a matter of hours “the phone rings at my desk and guess who it is…Rob from Ancaster!”

Make that Rob Baboth from Ancaster, who was surprised by the fuss. “It wasn’t a huge gesture but at the end of the day I tell you it was my mom telling me to do it, and it was fine.” He’s not overly active on social media and was taken aback by its reach “I’ve certainly learned the power of that… because it was my son and my daughter telling me about all these tweets about what happened on the plane.”

And now, he’s aware of the power of kindness towards others. “I wanted to make sure that he knew how much we appreciated his gesture – even if he thought it was a small gesture it was a huge gesture in our eyes” says a grateful Tim Bolen.