What happens when you leave your gear in your car overnight?....

Monday night someone broke into my Jeep and decided my skate bag ($60), including my uniform ($100), skates ($375 including gumball toe stops, Swiss bearings and heartless wheels), knee gaskets ($30), ankle braces ($13 each), wrist guards ($18), elbow pads ($20), mouth guard ($13), black derby skinz ($18), outdoor wheels ($20) Betties shirt ($?) among other misc clothes were more important to them than me..and..100 tickets to the Season 6 Championship bout valued at $14 a piece. I was the new Betties ticket wrangler..they were my responsibility. I decided to have 1/2 in my purse and 1/2 in my skate bag..so when I went into the hangar I'd have plenty on me..

I never leave my gear in my vehicle, much less in my soft top jeep. I coached Wreckers practice on Monday and   planned on leaving again later in the afternoon, possibly for an outdoor skate, so I figured it would be ok as I'd be back down shortly. Well I laid down, iced my knees and didn't leave the rest of the day. I forgot all about my gear until the next afternoon when I when to leave to the store. The back zipper was up and part of my top was ripped. Once I realized my bag was gone I couldn't breathe. The first thing that went through my head was "they're gonna kick me out..I can't play derby anymore"...due to loosing $1400 worth of bout tickets. I immediately called my captain in tears...she was quite calm surprisingly. After a few calls were made, I heard back and found out this type of thing has actually happened before. I was told not to freak out, it's not as bad as it seems. I was able to pick up more tickets for Cheap Ticket Night, and told again...it's ok. It's happened..."not a big deal"..I'll never forget those words. Those words convinced me this will in fact NOT end my derby career...

So throughout the day we searched garbage cans, local apartment dumpsters, posted fliers and went to a local pawn shop. Nothing. My friends and derby sisters immediately started posting all over Facebook: "Portland: Stolen skate alert! Black Reidell skates with fat pink laces, along with gear and a Betties uniform. Please keep an eye out for someone selling these!!"
I was so thankful to have the most caring friends!
Well, Beki told me later to come into the skate shop before practice that night. I figured maybe she had a used pair of skates I could use/buy, MAYBE there was an option for some kind of payment plan. When I go in, she tells me some money has been set aside to help me get new skates. I was shocked..I couldn't believe it. She asks my size, I say 9. "I've got a pair of 965's size 8 I want you to try"...there NO WAY I could afford 965's. NO way. But, she brought them out..and they were beautiful. Dark purple with a bit of black on the toe. They were wide, which was a miracle in itself. I have flat/wide feet. They fit..it was like having cotton balls stuffed into my skates lol. I do a lap around the rink..I was in heaven. They were SO light! They were custom skates that someone had ordered but were too big. I don't know how I got so lucky all the way around..but these skates were going to be mine. These 965 Minx purple boots with Revenge plates were going to be mine! How did that happen?! I was excited (AM EXCITED) but along with that I have a feeling of obvious sadness...other people would be buying these for me. Because I left my gear in my car. Because I messed up.
So Skatie Kat comes in and tells Beki the whole amt. of the skates would be covered. I teared up..I was planning on a payment plan for the balance. I find out there was some funds left over from a Chip In account that was created for Scrappy Go Lucky (my teammate) that was created just a few days before to replace her skates and that PMRD were the main donators to that account. She received some money for her birthday to get new ones..then sadly she lost her job and needed those funds for expenses. Then Skatie says there should be some more funds coming in and she'd just roll it over to be used for me. *insert overwhelming feeling of love and support here*

I head to the hangar with my new skates in hand and Skatie Kat. It was the Betties last practice, and without my gear, I wasn't able to participate. I chatted with Skatie while she waited for the guys to get back from an outdoor skate. When they got back, I ran outside to show them what they had helped purchase. It was impossible for me to put into words how thankful I was. But I tried and they all smiled.

When I got home, I logged into Facebook and saw a Chip In account was created for me! Before I knew it, there was $25 in there! Then $70, now it's up to $301! (it wouldn't refresh real time for me so that $ may not be correct) I didn't know who was donating, how much, I had no idea of the details. The only information I had access to was the comments to the right from people who helped. There's only a few comments but 20 total donations so far. The only ones I know about are from the comments and a couple personal friends. There was a woman I had skated with in an open scrimmage last month, a bouncer with the DC Rollergirls, a couple girls with the league and 2 people I've never met before! I will keep names private as they might want to keep it that way.
Before I knew it, the link to this page was all over Facebook. Girls from other leagues were posting, non-derby friends were posting, it was on a derby girls Yahoo group I belong to but honestly forgot about..I was full of emotions I couldn't express.
I'm sure I'll never know exactly who helped me but I will forever be greatful.
So I've got my skates, and I was able to buy new wrist guards elbow pads last night. I still need a few more things, but thanks to everyone's unbelievable kindness I should have everything I lost in the next week or so :)

<3 Nori