How an Ontario Coca-Cola employee made this non-verbal boy's dreams come true
CBC
There are two things Bryce McFeeters, 11, of St. Thomas, Ont., loves.
"He loves Santa and he loves Coca-Cola," Bryce's mom, Karrie McFeeters, said about her son who has autism and is non-verbal. When an opportunity arose for the Coca-Cola holiday truck to pull up in front of the family home last week, McFeeters jumped at the chance.
It all started with a Facebook post.
"(Bryce) is really hard to buy for for Christmas, and so my friend had tagged me in a post for some free Coke posters. He's very visual and would love just to see Coca-Cola on his wall," McFeeters recalled.
But by the time McFeeters got around to requesting the posters, they were gone.
That's when fellow St. Thomas mom Raemie O'Brien messaged McFeeters. O'Brien's husband, Jamie, is the vending manager for Coke Canada Bottling in London, Ont., and also volunteers with the Coca-Cola Holiday Truck Tour, a semi-trailer driven by Santa Claus and painted red with a giant image of Saint Nicholas. The truck tours the country, making stops at various spots along the way.
It didn't take long for the idea to come together.
Bryce communicates with a hand-held electronic device called a talker and in recent days had been asking to see Santa, said Karrie McFeeters. "He'll type in Santa and his talker will say 'Santa' and so he's following us around the house saying, 'Santa, Santa, Santa.'"
But visiting a mall Santa isn't easy, she said. "It's hard for us to coordinate going somewhere and getting a picture taken. He's just not comfortable. It's too loud, it's too noisy, it's too many colours, too many people and it just overwhelms him so he can't even enjoy himself."
Last Wednesday, when Jamie O'Brien was out with the Coca-Cola truck at the Ronald McDonald House charity in London, Raemie O'Brien texted her husband to see if Santa would record a video message for Bryce.
"Then about 10 minutes later my husband calls me and he says, 'Santa is in the Christmas spirit this year, he wants to actually bring the truck to St. Thomas and surprise Bryce,'" Raemie O'Brien said.
"I have been volunteering with the Coca-Cola holiday truck tour for the past two years and seeing the joy it brings people," said Jamie O'Brien. "When my wife told me about Bryce it just seemed like the right thing to do. I knew he would love it."
The moment the truck rolled up:
The truck rolled up at the McFeeters' home about 8 p.m. on Wednesday night.
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