If you happen to wonder what brought Leo Bruce from the U.S. to Canada, he’ll tell you it’s a story. “This is actually one of our favourite family stories to this day,” Leo said. But before he reveals how the story ends, Leo suggests contacting his parents — Sharon and Matt Bruce — about how it all began. “It’s because we had a cute baby,” Sharon explained from her home in Seattle. So cute that when Sharon and Matt went to a baseball game in Canada, the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd were overshadowed by the attention baby Leo received from two strangers behind them: Lorraine Stevenson and Georgina George. “I remember Leo on my knee bouncing,” Lorraine recalled from her home in Edmonton. “So cute.” Leo’s dad says the pair were so enamoured with the baby that they bought him 50/50 raffle tickets—and one ended up being the big winner. “We tried to give the money back,” Matt recalled. “They’re like, ‘No. This is for Leo.’” To celebrate,Sharon and Matt bought the women beer and they all posed for a picture with baby Leo next to all the cash. “It was awesome,” Lorraine said. “It was a very good day!” Although Georgina and Lorraine didn’t think much of it after that, Leo did. “When I was a kid, I’m like, ‘Score!’” Leo joked. “I’m like nine months old and I have a thousand dollars in the bank!” But Lorraine and Georgina said accepting the cash came with a commitment. “They said, ‘Use it towards his education,’” Leo explained. So, his parents invested the winnings, and every year he grew older, the amount of money grew larger. By the time Leo graduated from high school, he had enough to pay for part of his tuition, and he couldn’t be more grateful to spend it back in Canada. “It was super appreciated,” said Leo, smiling. “And here I am, almost done at UBC.” “It was just one of those crazy things you do,” Georgina explained, with Lorraine adding, “I don’t think [beer] had anything to do with it.” Although none of them have met in person since that day at the ballpark, Sharon and Matt have kept Lorraine and Georgina updated on Leo’s life through emails, and Leo hopes to one day pay their kindness forward. “Twenty some years later, instead of just being a raffle ticket, it’s a human connection that we have,” Leo said.
