Local Business Owner Comes to Aid of East Lansing Family Hurt by Theft
When Minh Nguyen and Mina Pham discovered that their son’s wagon had been stolen from their East Lansing apartment, it meant more than the loss of a plaything. For the small family trying to make ends meet on Nguyen’s post-doctoral student salary from Michigan State University, it was a lifeline.
“We don’t have a car because as a postdoc, the salary is low,” Nguyen said in a video interview with ELi. “My wife is not allowed to work and that’s why the bike and the trailer are the main transportation. We bring our son to the daycare and then home three days a week.”
The wagon attached to Pham’s bicycle, allowing her to run errands and transport Leomin, their 23-month-old son. When it was taken, it was still attached to the bike which was chained in the hallway of their Capital Villa apartment
Pham posted about the theft in the popular 517 Living Community Facebook group, asking users to keep their eyes open for the trailer and other parents how they would comfort a toddler after something like this occurred.
“We’ve reported it to [apartment building] management,” Pham wrote in her post. “Our son is very sad today — this trailer was part of his daily routine.”
After Pham’s post on Facebook, several community members offered to help. But Lawrence Bledden beat them all to the punch.
A lifelong resident of the area, Bledden is a father of three and the owner of Bledden Construction. He said he’s been in the same position that Nguyen and Pham find themselves in, and that he instantly knew that he needed to do something.
“All parents experience that unknown,” he said in a phone conversation with ELi. “I’ve had items taken from our yard and I know what that feels like. I couldn’t have a child going through the same feeling [of] instant devastation. They seem like such nice people [and] I didn’t want that to be the standard for them.
“Not everyone is like that. There is love out there and people do care for others.”
The same day that Pham made that Facebook post, Bledden and his wife showed up at the family’s apartment complex with a new bicycle trailer. When they discovered that a special bolt was needed to attach to the bike, Bledden returned again later that night with the final part.
“[It was an] unforgettable moment for us,” Nguyen said. “We have a lot of memories from our two years [in East Lansing] and I think this moment should be maybe the most significant.”
Nguyen said the experience was more than just a gift. He and Pham are touched by Bledden’s generosity with his time, spending almost half an hour with the couple and sharing his own experiences of being a young father.
Bledden also showed Leomin his motorcycle, letting him sit on it and revving the engine for him.
“That’s even more than the gift he gave us,” Nguyen said,
Bledden attempted to downplay the generosity in his interview with ELi, before admitting that he hopes the action will be replicated in the future.
“I hope it inspires other people to be nicer, to take the time to ask someone a question to see if they’re doing okay,” he said. “It only takes a second.”
Nguyen, Pham and Leomin are nearing the end of their time in East Lansing. Nguyen has accepted a position at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
“We’ve been grateful for the relationships here,” Nguyen said. “We feel it seems like a humane place. A lot of people have supported us and we feel like, even though it’s [just] two years, we feel like we belong to East Lansing here.”