'Incredibly touched': Calgary shop repairs and replaces 24 slashed tires on Alpha House vans

Fountain Tire Shepard provided 24 tires and labour to help Alpha House get its vehicles back on the road after 13 of them had their tires slashed on Aug.11.

A Calgary non-profit agency that specializes in helping others just got a big boost from a Calgary tire store after 13 of its 14 vehicles had their tires slashed.

On Friday, August 11, Calgary's Alpha House Society suffered an estimated $10,000 to $15,000 damage when it says 13 of its 14 vehicles had their tires slashed.

The vehicles were used by Alpha House's HELP Team – formerly known as the DOAP Team – which travels across Calgary to help connect people living on the street with social agencies who can help them.

"We're used to crisis work, but that's not typically the crisis work that we deal with. We're much more used to client crisis," Alpha House communications director Shaundra Burvall said in an Aug.14 interview with CTV News' Jordan Kanygin.

At first, it appeared that money from the non-profit's program funding budget would have to be used to replace the damaged tires.

However, on Monday, Alpha House was contacted by staff from Fountain Tire Shepard, who said they'd be interested in donating tires and installing them on their vehicles.

Not only did they donate new tires, but they also donated employee time and expertise in order to get Alpha House back in business.

Alpha House had started to replace some tires but still had six out of commission, which Fountain Tire Shepard and its staff put back into operation, donating 24 tires and staff time to make it happen.

“At Fountain Tire, we say, ‘We’re on this road together,’ and that includes pitching in when our community is in need,” said Fountain Tire Shepard owner Kelly Edye. “When we saw Alpha House’s story on the news, we knew we needed to do something – our store had the tires, tools and technicians to help.”

For Alpha House, who are more used to offering help than receiving it, the generosity of Fountain Tire was much appreciated.

“We shouldn’t be surprised anymore when community members in Calgary step up in these fantastic ways," Burvall said. "Alpha House has been on the receiving end of so much generosity over the years. Even still, we were so incredibly touched by how quickly and determinedly Kelly and his team stepped up to help us get our vehicles back on the road.”

With files from Jordan Kanygin