The teens performed an extraordinary act of kindness when they helped push a woman’s car for 4 miles after it had broken down.

A woman was driving home from work in Ontario when smoke started rising from the engine of her car. She pulled over and proceeded to stress out. She had only bought the car six weeks ago and couldn’t afford a tow truck.

Fortunately for her, help was on the way.

Pulling over to help

First, a stranger named Dan Morrison stopped to help out. Then, a few teenagers who were on their way to Tim Horton’s for a late-night snack pulled over.

Billy Tarbett, who was 15 at the time, looked over to his buddies and said, “Are you guys ready to push?” 

“We didn’t have anything else to do and we really wanted to help her,” Tarbett told CBC in 2019.

Having fun

The boys went and got some bottles of water, pulled out a portable speaker, and blasted hip-hop and rock while they pushed the car.

“We weren’t really thinking of how far it’d be. We were just jamming out,” Tarbett told CBC.

As the woman steered on neutral and Morrison followed with his car headlights on, the boys pushed the broken down car uphill and on a highway. At one point, the battery died and the car needed a boost. Finally, they reached the woman’s driveway in Welland- more than two hours later. The boys tracked the trip at 9km (5.5 miles), though GPS says it was more like 6.6km (4 miles).

We were always raised to help, no matter what the situation was.

Billy Tarbett

The woman, who was not identified in the story, thought they were joking when they offered to push her car home, but was extremely grateful when they actually did it.

A free workout

When he got home, Morrison posted about the boys’ kind deed on Facebook and it got nearly 200,000 reactions and more than 422,000 shares.

Aeron McQuillin, who was 18 at the time, also shared his side of the story.

As a result, the boys were showered with praise and were even offered gift cards to Tim Horton’s, but they declined.

“We really appreciate it, but we didn’t do this to get free handouts,” McQuillin told CBC. “If I was broken down on the side of the road, I would love for someone to stop and help out.”

We were helping her but also she was helping us, doing a workout.

Billy Tarbett

Morrison said this story is a reminder that there’s good in the world. “There’s good kids out there,” he added.

Kindness you can’t teach

As a parent, you can only hope that your kids will be good people. There’s only so much you can do to make it happen. But the parents of these three teens certainly did something right.

The boys’ kindness and positive attitude must have been such an immense relief for this stressed-out woman, and the fact that they didn’t want to take any rewards shows their humility too.

Yes, this is a story about good kids. But it’s also a reminder that there’s goodness within all of us if we’re willing to help.

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“Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.” – Martin Luther King Jr.