MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A nonprofit that provides dogs for people with disabilities is back on the road after a tire shop stepped in to help.
Volunteers found all four tires were stolen off the transport van on Christmas Eve in the Can Do Canines parking lot in New Hope.
The manager of Tires Plus said they wanted to do what they could to help a neighbor in need
Staff at Can Do Canines felt like the Grinch stole Christmas when they found their van off the ground.
“It turned out that somebody just came here, took the wheels,” development director Janet Cobus said.
The nonprofit trains assistance dogs, and the van is constantly in use.
“Our vehicles are donated to us by generous people. And it’s a van we use every day to transport our dogs to our prison training program,” Cobus said. “We work with our clients in public and we take the dogs with us.”
Despair quickly turned to gratitude after Kirk and TJ at Tires Plus put their heads together.
“I thought it’d be really nice if we could just step in and try to make their day a little bit better so they can continue to do what they do and improve everyone else’s lives,” manager Kirk Sodergren said.
The New Hope store donated and replaced the tires, and gave the van a tune-up.
“It’s part of our community. I live in the community and it’s just no thought at all, this is something we have to do,” Sodergren said.
(credit: CBS)
Staff and volunteers can now get back to the business of training and placing assistance dogs with people with disabilities.
“Tires Plus was another one of those wonderful companies that learned about us and wanted to help out. So yeah, we’re extremely, extremely grateful,” Cobus said.
The staff at Tires Plus plans to take a tour of Can Do Canines soon so they can see the impact of their gift.
Other donations will be used to fix a cracked windshield and for other maintenance.
Police have not caught whoever swiped the tires.
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