Homeless woman replaces 3-year-old's stolen bike: 'She wanted him to have faith in humanity'

ROCKLAND, Maine -- A 3-year-old Maine boy was ecstatic to get his first bike, a Spider-Man model. But when that bike was stolen, a real hero that came to his rescue.

"We went to Walgreens, and we stopped and put his bike on the sidewalk and then decided to give him a little candy treat and say, 'Woo hoo, you made it half a mile,'" the boy's mom, Liz Fuller-Wright, told WMTW-TV. "We came out, and the bike wasn't there. And I walked up and down the length of the sidewalk thinking because there's those big cement columns, so I thought maybe I just couldn't see it. But it wasn't there."

Security footage showed that someone took it, along with Fuller-Wright's faith in her fellow neighbor.

"It was a mix of emotions," she said. "I mean, sad, disappointed, you know, angry at the state of humanity. He's 3 years old. This is his first bike. And you don't want to think that anybody would do that."

Rockland police posted a surveillance video of the thief on Facebook to try and find the stolen bike, but what they found instead was something priceless.

"I happen to put Facebook on and I saw that story about the little boy who had his bike stolen," said a homeless woman, who wishes to remain anonymous. "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 be thinking about the world. I went to Walmart, and I purchased the one and only bike, got him the helmet, the lock. And then I took it to Rockland."

She spent what little money she had on the identical bike and dropped it off at the Rockland police station.

The department's subsequent Facebook post received an overwhelming reaction, with the Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition now accepting donations for her as a means of thanks.

"I was able to give her a call and we spoke for a few minutes, and she told me her story," the boy's mother said. "And I just I couldn't believe it. She's not someone flush 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 that there were bad guys in the world. She wanted him to have faith in humanity."

When the Good Samaritan was asked what she would say if she met the boy, she said: "I think I would probably just cry, you know, to see that happen between us and his face? And 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."

Mid-Coast Recovery has collected almost $1,200 in donations to support the woman.