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Repair bill waived for struggling Chilliwack dad

This good deed from a local dealership came at the right time for one local family at Christmas

For Derek Wardas of Chilliwack, the act of kindness shown to him by a local business this week was a bit of a Christmas miracle.

He's a single dad on disability who had some car trouble — just before Christmas. When he pulled into his dealership, it sounded like a shrieking cat was trapped under the hood.

Initially he was told the repairs would be about $425 by the folks at Murray Honda, which is almost all the cash he had.

But when he arrived to pick up his vehicle and pay the bill, he found it had been taken care of by service manager Sheldon Gailing.

"It's a Christmas miracle," Wardas exclaimed.

"Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. They made it possible for us to have a Christmas this year."

It's not quite as miraculous as all that, Gailing told The Progress.

The thing is, Wardas' vehicle was almost 20 years old.

"When you have a car that old, loads of things can go wrong."

They thought maybe a distributor gear needed to be replaced, which accounts for the initial repair estimate. But it turned out to be less complicated than that, with no parts needed, just the labour costs.

So Gailing decided to waive the cost.

"It wasn't that big a deal, so why not?" Gailing said. "If it made him feel a lot better, I'm glad."

jfeinberg@theprogress.com

Twitter.com/chwkjourno



Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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