My family and I recently had a wonderful experience at the Townhall (pub) on South Fraser Way.
My grandma Rose Friesen died the morning of Jan. 7 in the Abbotsford hospital at the age of 77. She had spent a few weeks in the hospital before she died while doctors tried to do what they could for her, but it seems it was her time to go. Over those few weeks my family was at the hospital every day and throughout the night to make sure she wasn’t alone and to spend as much time with her as we could before she passed.
My family is extremely close and we all got together the night of the 7th to help support each other. We decided to again get together the next morning for brunch at the Townhall to continue to be together, share memories and just have a good time.
My auntie Audrey and uncle Phil Klaassen have a favourite waitress there by the name of Chrystal and she arranged for my whole family (about 20 people) to have the upper mezzanine all to ourselves. We had such a nice time together, sharing memories, crying, drinking and eating. I think Chrystal saw each and every one of us with tears running down our faces by the time we left. This can be an awkward situation for a server to find themselves in but she didn’t miss a beat and was extremely kind and sympathetic. She also did a great job of getting everyone their food and drinks.
Before we all left, my uncle Phil stood up and made this speech through tears: “Well everyone, I just wanted you to know that someone has ended up paying for the whole bill today.” He points to my uncle Barry who had just paid for the whole thing, and we were all speechless.
“But the Townhall has something called random acts of kindness and they are going to reimburse Barry and cover the whole bill.”
I broke down into tears at hearing this: “They are not only going to cover the whole bill, they are going to make a donation to a charity of your choice to match the bill.”
I started to cry even harder, overcome by the kindness shown to our family.
I just wanted to thank everyone at the Abbotsford Townhall, especially Chrystal and the manager that told her that morning to keep an eye out for a table that could use a random act of kindness. That act touched our whole family, and on a day filled with sadness, all 20 people sitting at the large wooden table upstairs felt true happiness. You guys absolutely rocked our world.
Scott Heinrichs
