'There Are Good Guys Too!' Roofers Save Day For Jersey City Boy

JERSEY CITY AND HOBOKEN, NJ — After a 5-year-old boy in Jersey City told his mom that he was afraid to go to the local park because someone had swiped his scooter, two roofers swooped in to buy him a new one and restore his faith in mankind.

"We went to the park that afternoon and he kept saying, ‘Mommy, it’s okay because there are good guys too, like my friends,' " said Hope Donovan, who moved to Jersey City Heights recently after living in Hoboken for seven years.

The saga began in late April when Donovan took her son to Washington Park, a 22-acre park on the Jersey City border up the hill from Hoboken. The family moved up the hill last year for more space after they welcomed a new baby.

While in Washington Park, the 5-year-old's scooter disappeared.

According to Donovan, her son told her that he didn't want to go to the park any more because of the "bad guys."

In search of the missing scooter, Donovan posted the story to Facebook discussion groups for parents in Jersey City and Hoboken.

That's when Nick Bilyk and James Ubl, two employees of Elite Roofing in Bayonne, happened to see Donovan's posts. The pair had worked on Donovan's new house months earlier, fixing a leaky roof.

Bilyk and Ubl reached out to Donovan to get the boy a new scooter.

Donovan posted a followup in a Hoboken mommy group on April 30, a post that earned more than 460 "likes" from fellow parents.

"I know everyone is always looking for good contractors, but I love when they are also good people," she wrote. "I posted in a parents group over the weekend that my son’s scooter was stolen from Washington Park and how upset he was about bad guys and not wanting to go to the park anymore. James and Nick from Elite Roofing were so upset for him they showed up this week with a new scooter!"

She added, "Most importantly, they told him he could go back to the park because they would watch out for the bad guys for him."

Hope told Patch that it was just a coincidence that James and Nick saw her post on Facebook.

"They replaced our roof months ago, and besides being on budget, on time, beautifully done," she said, "they also told me that once you’re a client, you’re family."

After Patch reached out, Nick Bilyk agreed that that was their philosophy. He added, "We [James and Nick] were out to lunch one Saturday and as we were scrolling through our social media, we saw the Donovan family post that their 5-year-old son's scooter had been stolen at the park."

He said, "We could just feel that poor kid's disappointment because we have all been in similar situations as kids. We wanted to make sure that our little dude not only had his scooter back but that he wasn’t afraid to play in the park."

He added, "No kid should be afraid to play in their local park! We believe in promoting kindness in the community!"

Donovan said, "The scooter was so great, but also the reassurance they gave my son when they told him they would worry about the bad guys. [It] really helped him get over what was, luckily, one of his worst experiences."

She also said that when they two men fixed her roof last year, they "fixed a half dozen things around the outside of the house no charge."

Perhaps they were following a credo espoused by the roofer in the classic New Jersey-based comedy film "Clerks": "A roofer listens to [his heart]. Not his wallet."

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