Family injured in Sea-to-Sky crash gets new car, thanks to 10-year-old
A 10-year-old from West Vancouver raised over $20,000 to buy a car for a family injured in a violent crash on the Sea-to-Sky Highway last month.
Jonathan Yeung spent several hours over the past month calling friends, relatives and local businesses asking for money for the family, who were all injured when a Lamborghini and Range Rover spun out of control on the highway up to Whistler on Sept. 5.
Everyone involved in the crash, including two children, were taken to hospital. The drivers of the Lamborghini, as well as a Range Rover that was part of the rally, are under investigation and police are considering criminal charges.
"Two kids were badly hurt and they were my age," said Yeung, who is 10 years old. "I was very sad and shocked that this happened to them."
Yeung spent over four weeks fundraising for the family, whom he had never met in person.
He got to meet them for the first time Friday afternoon when he handed them the keys to a pre-owned Volkswagen at a dealership in Burnaby.
The family declined an interview but said in a statement to CBC News that they had immense appreciation for Yeung's act of kindness, generosity, and empathy.
"It takes an incredibly generous and kind person to donate for some stranger, especially in times like this," the statement read.
The family was in awe when Yeung pulled the black cover off their new car, which was waiting at the dealership for them. They told CBC all four of them are recovering slowly but feeling much better.
'It could've been anyone'
Yeung said he felt the urge to help when he saw the pictures of the crash in a news story his dad showed him.
"It could've been anyone ... It could've been my dad [because] we always take that road and now I'm on the ski team, so we're gonna take that road often," he said.
His father, Kevin Yeung, said his son isn't new to the world of fundraising, having led and participated in several other charitable causes before this one.
"It's not that smooth sailing," Kevin said. "It's not like he has a bunch of followers [on social media]... it's really been lots of calls, lots of emails."
"Sometimes they rejected me, but that doesn't stop me, because I care about my mission to help," added Jonathan.
The car will be helpful to the recipient family.
They said in their statement that because they did not have optional car insurance they were unable to expense a rental car while the police hold their vehicle for the crash investigation, a process that could take months.
