By Sue Tiffin
Published April 3 2018

Ask Mike Bachynski about how quickly the community will act to support a fellow resident and he’ll answer in amazement.

“The whole experience has been … fast” said the Haliburton resident of the fundraising efforts to help replace his worn-out much-used mobility scooter. “It’s hard to believe. I didn’t realize it would happen so quickly. I was pretty shocked.”

In about two weeks the GoFundMe page started by his friend Andrea Strano to help Bachynski exceeded their goal of $4000 enabling him to replace the unreliable scooter he was using with a brand new scooter worth $4500. And to top it off friends service clubs community groups complete strangers and an anonymous donor responding to Bachynski’s story in a Haliburton Echo article didn’t stop there.

“The donations came from local residents anonymous donors business owners from out of town that heard about it or saw it on social media and the Lions Club of Haliburton” Strano said. “Many people stopped into the ReMax office to deliver their donations in person and I was able to manually enter those donations into the Go Fund Me account.” Extra funds raised over the goal will help Bachynski with future repairs and upkeep of the new scooter should it need it.

Even getting the scooter in his hands was a quick process. Bachynski initially expected it to take at least a week but it arrived the same week it was ordered. His plans upon acquiring the new wheels?

“Take it for a good test drive” he laughed. “On my Facebook page someone posted a video of someone in a scooter doing a bunch of wheelies. That won’t be me but I’ll be going.”

Bachynski who is active in the community as a volunteer and uses the scooter on a daily basis to get to work or run errands is grateful for the quick response to his campaign for help.

“A big thank you for what the community did” he said. “It was greatly appreciated.”