Mo pulled off the blindfold, saw the car, and went completely still. Standing in a gas station lot in Windsor, the 20-year-old who had survived a war, lost family members, and driven his mother’s aging car with 263,000 kilometres on it could not speak. His heart was pounding so hard that a stranger reached over and felt it beating through his chest. What happened next said everything about who he is: before he had held the keys for five minutes, he had already decided the car belonged to his mom.
The day started with a question. Zach from MDMotivator walked into the gas station office and asked the attendant whether he could buy $10,000 worth of gas for everyone. The attendant paused, then said yes. Why not. Before the pumps opened to the public, Zach moved through the lot handing cash directly to drivers, a man named Pat who had just put in $20 and was handed $200 instead, a woman named Morgan who got $250 after thanking him with what he called real gratitude, a driver who tried to refuse the money and only accepted $60 after being pressed. When Zach posted about the giveaway on Instagram, the lot filled fast.
The reunion that almost did not happen
One of the first people Zach approached near the pumps was a woman who mentioned her dream was simply to get home and see her mom. Her mom was not well. When Zach asked what she would say to her if she could, the woman said she would give her left arm and her right just to have a conversation, because her mom has dementia and no longer recognizes her. Zach handed her $1,000 US on the spot for a flight home.
Mo arrived later, a young man Zach had met exactly once before, two years earlier. They had shaken hands that day and made a loose promise: the next time they crossed paths, they would make something happen together. Mo had 30 dollars in his pocket. Zach put him to work, sending him up to a couple at the pumps named Nikki and her boyfriend to give away every dollar he had. Mo handed it over, then described how it felt: ‘She felt special. We came up to her. We gave her the money. That’s probably the best thing. We made her feel like all day.’
A blindfold, a prayer, and a set of keys
Zach tied a blindfold on Mo and walked him by the hands across the lot. Mo spoke about what his family had been through, about losing relatives in the Syrian war, about his father who does landscaping work and has six kids and never stops. When Zach asked if Mo believed in God, Mo said of course, he is Muslim, and then offered a prayer for Zach without being asked twice: that God keep giving him the health and the drive to keep helping people, because the reactions Zach draws from strangers make Mo smile every time, knowing how much people really need it.
Then the blindfold came off. A brand new car. Mo’s first words were that there was no way. His second words were that he could feel his own heartbeat.
Within minutes the plan was set. The whole group drove to Mo’s family home in the West End of Windsor. Mo’s mother walked out not believing it, laughing at what she assumed was a joke, and then stopped. His father pulled up from a landscaping job, still in his work clothes, and was waved over to look at what his son had just handed to their family.
Mo, still holding the door open for his mom
Mo stood beside the car his mother had just climbed into, watching her sit in the driver’s seat for the first time.
The drive to the West End took ten or fifteen minutes. Mo spent most of it barely able to speak, which he explained by saying he had been through enough in his life that he had learned to keep his emotions level. He just wanted Zach to know, off camera, that he could not find enough words. What he did find were simple ones: the car was hers. A thousand percent. She deserved it more than anybody.
