I saw this article in the local paper today and my heart skipped a beat or two. His name is Scott. Scott Di Vincenzo to be exact. I don’t know him. I don’t know his family….but my heart still skipped a few beats.
Here’s the story:
May 12th
A Surrey family is desperate to find their missing 13-year-old son, who was last seen in Nanaimo.
It has been four days since Scott Di Vincenzo was reported missing in Surrey on Saturday.
His parents, who describe their son as friendly and caring but fearless and not street-smart, say they plan to stay in Nanaimo as long as it takes to find him.
“I don’t think he realizes what kind of danger is out there,” said mother Solimar. “We need everyone’s help because we don’t know where to look for him anymore.”
Solimar and father Len say their son has run away in the past but for only a few hours at a time. Di Vincenzo was upset over being grounded and can rebel against authority, say his parents, who do not believe any other factors are behind his disappearance.
Police located the boy as he got off the ferry at Departure Bay with a friend but as he was being returned to Surrey by friends, Di Vincenzo ran off when they stopped at the Wallace Street Tim Hortons, where he was last seen Sunday.
As I was researching a little more tonight, I read the updated news that Scott had been found and reunited by an amazing youth worker on the Island. What a Be The Best moment.
Sometimes life makes you want to run away as Scott did. It’s great to hear he’s reconnected.
Scott, I’m guessing you’re probably not a blog reader, but if you ever see this, remember that no mountain is ever too big to climb, tunnel under or just rent a helicopter and fly over.
NANAIMO — A chance meeting between a young boy and a Nanaimo youth worker led to a plan that eventually reunited a missing 13-year-old boy with his family.
Scott Di Vincenzo is home in Surrey after being returned to his parents late Wednesday night, four days after he was last seen at a Nanaimo coffee shop.
It was by coincidence, minutes after noticing downtown one of more than 500 flyers on Tuesday, that John Barsby Community School youth worker Ray McDonald ran into a young boy he recognized and told him to call him if he spotted the Surrey ninth grader.
Dozens of phone calls between that boy and another believed to be harbouring the teen, and McDonald (called “a hero” by the Di Vincenzo family), led to the setup that reunited the family.
Di Vincenzo thought he was only getting something to eat when the boys met McDonald on the corner of Rosehill Street and Terminal Avenue around 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Less than 100 metres away sat his parents, Solimar and Len, at a restaurant. The boys were driven to get fast food, with Di Vincenzo having no idea he was about to be dropped off with his parents. Late Tuesday night, Di Vincenzo had taunted McDonald over the phone, saying: “You won’t ever catch me.”
But his defiance over the phone later dissolved into tears.
“I honestly think at the end, he was ready to go home,” said McDonald, who will stay in touch with Di Vincenzo. “I don’t think I’m a hero. All I know is I tried to find a missing kid.”
Be The Best. 