Young Langley officer saves family’s holiday

Andy Ivens (Vancouver Province) – An angel appeared to Bobbie Henderson on Christmas Eve in the form of Langley RCMP Const. Christa Ballard.Henderson, a single mom raising two children, awoke on the morning of Dec. 24 to an uncomfortable breeze from an open window in her Brookswood home.

She got up to investigate and to her shock found that the Christmas presents she had scrimped so much to buy for 11-year-old Liberty and Jason, 13, had been stolen.

Const. Ballard couldn’t let a lowlife thief ruin the kids’ Christmas.

So, when she got back to the detachment to write up her report, she decided to pull a Christmas miracle out of her Stetson.

With time ticking down to St. Nick’s annual sleigh ride of joy, Ballard turned into the fundraiser from heaven, hitting up her kind-hearted co-workers on the detachment’s C Watch to save Henderson’s Christmas.

In the wink of an eye, Ballard had conjured up $360 in cash, two boxes of chocolates, a basket of bath products, candles and a $10 gift voucher.

So, off to the mall she sprang with a clatter.

Using her own meal break for a whirlwind Christmas-shopping spree, Ballard bought replacement presents and hurried back to the detachment.

About 30 officers and civilian RCMP members worked like tireless elves to wrap the presents in the few spare moments they had on the busy pre-yuletide shift.

Henderson, who was barely making ends meet, was unexpectedly called into work on Christmas Eve, making it impossible for her to do her own last-minute emergency toy run, even if she had the cash to do so.

When Ballard appeared that night with the unexpected haul of replacement presents, Liberty and Jason’s dreams of sugar-plums began dancing in their heads again.

“The children were very, very happy,” said a proud Cpl. Diane Blain, the detachment’s media liaison.

“When [Ballard] walked in the office, I saw this look on her face that said, ‘I’ve got to do something. I can’t let this happen.’

“We knew the complaint [of the theft] was genuine. We knew [Henderson] was working hard and those gifts were legitimately obtained with the little bit of extra money that she had saved,” said Blain.

“This woman didn’t have a lot of means and didn’t have household insurance to cover the loss.”

Ballard, in her mid-20s, became a Mountie a year-and-a-half ago and has already distinguished herself as a true hero in her mentor’s eyes.

“She’s a very hard worker, very dedicated,” Blain said of the young officer from Ottawa.

“That’s not the first time she’s done something like that.”

Last summer, Ballard was touched by the plight of a Langley family that was down on its luck when she answered a call about the mother of three having a mental breakdown.

“The mom was very distraught and needed to be taken to the hospital psych ward to receive care,” said Blain.

“They were living in less-than-desirable conditions. None of the children’s clothes fit them.

“[Ballard] really felt for that family. The children were very nice, but had no clothes, no shoes.

“The next day, [Ballard] went shopping, bought a whole bunch of clothes for the children and anonymously dropped them off at the door for the family.”

Blain, who supervises Ballard’s work, said she only found out about that random act of kindness a few months later while evaluating her performance.

“I don’t think a lot of people knew about it,” said Blain. “She wasn’t volunteering to take credit.

“She does things from the goodness of her heart.”

Blain said there are no leads yet on tracking down the despicable looter.

“Langley’s turning into a big city,” she said of the criminal element in the bustling township of 125,000.

“Issues like homelessness and drug use are becoming as predominant as in any other large city in the Lower Mainland.