Photo: Facebook / Rick James
There is no denying it: 2020 has been and will probably continue to be a terrible year. As if that’s not bad enough, it also seems to have been able to bring out the worst in people.
This story will (probably) restore your faith in humanity. It includes vintage Volkswagen buses and a father determined to do whatever he can to help his child, as well as several kind strangers that stepped up to the task. We need more stuff like this.
Rick James loves vintage VW buses. Until not long ago, he had a 1966 Volkswagen bus he called the Volksrod, which he was looking to modify to add an access ramp, so his special-needs son, Luca, who is only 9 months old, could join him on rides. He turned to a Facebook group called Vintage Volkswagen Club of America (VVWCA), asking for help on how he could build the ramp himself.
With the plea for help, he attached a photo of another vintage bus with a ramp he’d found on Google Images. A short while after the post, the owner of that actual bus, Bob Yost, joined the conversation – and offered to send him the bus with the ramp free of charge, as long as he saw to the delivery.
Yost had recently won the VW bus, a 1977 edition, at a recent auction and had already conducted some work on it, to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars. He only had to replace the rusty tank, when he decided to give the thing away to James. He warned James that he’d have to pay for the delivery and the tank himself, but otherwise, he (Yost) didn’t want a dime.
And this is where the story gets even more impressive. Eric Goodman, president of VVWCA, offered to pay the delivery fee, while another member of the group told James he would send him over a new gas tank. When Goodman reported back saying it would take a company two months to send the bus over to James, one of James’ colleagues and his family volunteered to make the 60-hour, non-stop drive to get the job done.
Because James felt the need to say thank-you in a more significant way than with words, he sent Yost his Volksrod, which the man only reluctantly accepted. When the father got the new, low-mileage, ramp-equipped bus, he found another surprise inside: a $500 check made out to his son’s name.
“I wanted to take this opportunity to challenge each and every one of you to be a shining light in someone's dark day,” James writes on Facebook, where he’s been documenting the story of how the entire VW community rallied behind him and his family. “Be kind to one another. Remember a time in your own struggle when someone unexpectedly was there for you, and pay it forward. Together, these acts of kindness and love will change the world!”
Rick James loves vintage VW buses. Until not long ago, he had a 1966 Volkswagen bus he called the Volksrod, which he was looking to modify to add an access ramp, so his special-needs son, Luca, who is only 9 months old, could join him on rides. He turned to a Facebook group called Vintage Volkswagen Club of America (VVWCA), asking for help on how he could build the ramp himself.
With the plea for help, he attached a photo of another vintage bus with a ramp he’d found on Google Images. A short while after the post, the owner of that actual bus, Bob Yost, joined the conversation – and offered to send him the bus with the ramp free of charge, as long as he saw to the delivery.
Yost had recently won the VW bus, a 1977 edition, at a recent auction and had already conducted some work on it, to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars. He only had to replace the rusty tank, when he decided to give the thing away to James. He warned James that he’d have to pay for the delivery and the tank himself, but otherwise, he (Yost) didn’t want a dime.
And this is where the story gets even more impressive. Eric Goodman, president of VVWCA, offered to pay the delivery fee, while another member of the group told James he would send him over a new gas tank. When Goodman reported back saying it would take a company two months to send the bus over to James, one of James’ colleagues and his family volunteered to make the 60-hour, non-stop drive to get the job done.
Because James felt the need to say thank-you in a more significant way than with words, he sent Yost his Volksrod, which the man only reluctantly accepted. When the father got the new, low-mileage, ramp-equipped bus, he found another surprise inside: a $500 check made out to his son’s name.
“I wanted to take this opportunity to challenge each and every one of you to be a shining light in someone's dark day,” James writes on Facebook, where he’s been documenting the story of how the entire VW community rallied behind him and his family. “Be kind to one another. Remember a time in your own struggle when someone unexpectedly was there for you, and pay it forward. Together, these acts of kindness and love will change the world!”
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