In My Opinion: Return of Maple Leafs sweater to Beach Metro News shows how special our community is

By DESMOND BROWN

By now you’re most likely aware of the challenges facing Beach Metro Community News and almost every other news organization in this country. Survival and sustainability of our beloved local publication, along with covering the stories important to our community, are some of the main priorities of our volunteer board, which I sit on.

In partnership with the Balmy Beach Club, we organized a major fundraiser for the paper on Monday Nov. 25 – An Evening with Inspector Brackenreid of Murdoch Mysteries. It was an incredibly successful event that sold out immediately.

Another integral part of the evening was the silent auction, where generous contributors donated items such as a backstage tour of the studios where Murdoch Mysteries is filmed, and Raptors and Leafs tickets.

However, there was one item that was missing for the auction during that evening. It was a prized item donated by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When we decided to have a silent auction, I reached out my friend Greg with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Without hesitation, he agreed to send us something for the auction.

On the Friday before the event, Greg told me the item was being couriered to the Beach Metro Community News office at 2196 Gerrard St. E. Our worries were that the item would be delivered when the office was closed, so Susan Legge, our publisher, left a note on the door, saying , “Do not leave packages after hours …..leave them at the convenience store.”

We thought we had it covered. End of day Friday came, and the delivery still hadn’t arrived. Maybe the courier will deliver it on the weekend, we hoped, and it will be left at the variety store.

On Monday morning, the day of the event, it still had not arrived. I immediately texted Greg and he said their records show it had delivered on Friday.

I asked him to double check the address was 2196 Gerrard St. E. Problem solved, said Greg. His mailroom had inadvertently put the wrong address (which I won’t disclose but was wrong by one digit – which is an understandable error that has probably happened to all of us at one time or another) on the packing slip, and the package was delivered there.

That’s when he also told me that they had shipped us an Auston Matthews jersey!

I got in touch with Susan, who said she’d go knock on the door where the jersey was delivered, and if no one was home, she’d leave a note on the door explaining the package delivered to them was a mistake, and that it was intended for a fundraising event.

I immediately left my office and headed up to the Beach Metro office to see if I could help. Susan was busy organizing other aspects of our event and had not yet been able to get away to retrieve the jersey, so I grabbed the letter she prepared and headed out the door.

When I arrived at the address, I knocked on the door, but no answer. So, I taped the letter to the door and hoped that the person who received the jersey would do the right thing and return it to us in time for the event.

At about 6:15 p.m., I arrived at Balmy Beach Club for the event and the first thing I did was seek out Susan to find out if we had received the jersey yet. Nope. Oh well. Someone has an early Christmas present. And in the big scheme of things, it’s just a hockey jersey.

The next morning after the event, I got a text from Susan, saying, “A fellow just walked in the door with it!”

She also attached a photo of the autographed Auston Matthews jersey!

I asked, “Who was he? Did you speak to him?”

Susan said no. “The guy just dropped it off and left quickly.”

The next day, the fellow called Susan to explain that he had just seen the letter on his door and returned the jersey the day before because it was addressed to the paper.

He still didn’t leave his name, but as a gesture of gratitude, Susan delivered a gift card to his home.

I really thought the jersey was long gone. However, the kindness and thoughtfulness demonstrated by this gentleman, shows how special this community is!

Whoever you are, Beach Metro Community News sincerely thanks you!

The Auston Matthews jersey may have missed our Murdoch Mysteries event but the case of its brief disappearance was solved, and it will be made available at a future date as part of the fundraising we do for our newspaper.

• Local realtor Desmond Brown is a member of Beach Metro Community News’ volunteer executive board.