Toronto cop offers up his Oshawa backyard pool to family after rental mix-up
Published July 9, 2021 at 4:11 pm
The generosity of a Toronto Police Superintendent and his wife, who offered their Oshawa pool for the afternoon to a family who couldn’t find the one they thought they had rented, has not gone unnoticed.
Dave Rydzik’s Twitter page has blown up, with dozens of messages thanking the man and his wife for their kindness and the story was also featured on CTV News.
On Sunday afternoon, Amanda Fernandez rented time in an Oshawa backyard to treat her cousin Camille Forsythe and her kids, Mateo and Ava, to a swim.
But the group had trouble finding the place, and while the cousins were standing in the street – surrounded by kids, coolers and squirt guns – Rydzik came out to help.
But despite all the internet surfing, the address couldn’t be verified, though the postal code listed belonged to Rydzik.
He assumed the family had been scammed – they paid $125 for the rental – and offered his pool for them to use.
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“We felt so bad we let them use it anyway for free and they all had a blast,” Rydzik said on his Twitter page. “They used an app to rent it. They paid and were supposed to get an address but were only given a postal code which was ours. They knocked on several doors in our neighbourhood, including ours.”
“I couldn’t turn them away.”
“Dave and his wife, they pulled out extra stuff for (the kids) to play with – they were fantastic,” enthused Forsythe in the CTV interview. “And even the kids commented how kind the couple was to offer that. Such an amazing experience.”
The rental site was eventually contacted, and they confirmed the proper address/confirmation was sent via email and assumed the message likely ended up in Fernandez’s junk mail folder.
Fernandez has now been fully refunded, which was good news for Rydzik and his wife.
“So glad to hear that. At that moment … it certainly sounded like just another scam or fraud that we hear about almost daily. Glad they were able to have a swim and get a refund.”
The following day a thank you note and a fruit basket was delivered to the Rydzik household.
“That made our day and I think that’s what it’s all about, just help people out and do good deeds,” Rydzik said.
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