A volunteer with the local food bank has been reunited with his foster parents after they recognized his name on a route for the recent Thanksgiving campaign.
Jason Nagy, organizer of the local campaign for the B.C. Thanksgiving Food Drive, was caught off-guard on Oct. 14 when he received a call out of the blue.
“I didn’t recognize the number,” said the 41-year-old, and almost didn’t pick up the phone because he was in the middle of something at work.
When he did, the person on the other end of the line asked him if he lived in Burnaby as a child, which he had, and if he had a sister named Angela.
Nagy knew immediately who he was talking to.
READ MORE: Thanksgiving food drive nets new record for Maple Ridge food bank
In 1988 Nagy and his sister were put in foster care for three months while their mother and father separated.
Peggy and Robert Maikawa became their foster parents. The Maikawa’s had two children of their own at the time.
“We were there from April, 1988, to July. They were a really good family,” said Nagy, who remembered his time fondly – going camping and doing a lot of “fun stuff”.
“Honestly to me it felt like we were there for a lot longer. I was shocked when she (Peggy) told me it was only for three months,” said Nagy.
Nagy was both shocked and excited after getting the call from Peggy, who recognized his name in a post online by the Friends In Need Food Bank listing his name and the number of volunteers for the Thanksgiving Food Drive routes.
READ MORE: Thanksgiving food drive the first this year for Maple Ridge food bank
During his life Nagy had lived in Ontario and Alberta, and only moved back to B.C. in 2008.
When he resettled, he didn’t live too far from where the Maikawa’s lived.
“I kept driving by and wanting to stop in and see if they were there and I just kept chickening out,” he said.
However, he found out that the Maikawa’s moved to Pitt Meadows in 2017, just a couple of months before he moved to Maple Ridge.
“I’ve never forgotten about them. I always wondered what they were doing and how they were doing,” he said.
Now they are planning to stay in touch. Nagy plans to introduce them to his two sons and his wife.
He is hoping to meet their daughter, who was born after Nagy and his sister left their care.
Nagy is also hoping another camping trip is in their future.
cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
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