Kamloops family included in viral TikTok video that shows the kindness of strangers

Photo: TikTok

Brad Lancaster and his Halifax-to-Vancouver sign.

The kind actions of a Kamloops family have gone viral in a new video posted on TikTok.

In late 2018, Maison Cavaliere, his wife Riley and his mom Katrina were at a Starbucks on the North Shore practicing their Italian.

A man by the name of Brad Lancaster walked in; he had been hitchhiking across Canada (he started in Halifax), and was on his last leg of his journey, en route to Vancouver. (If the name sounds familiar, it's because he's a popular YouTuber who makes videos about exploring the power of human connection.)

"Our Italian lessons ended and he was still there and he came up to us as we were walking out, and said, 'Hey guys, my name is Brad, I'm travelling across Canada on the kindness of strangers, and I'm really looking for a place to stay tonight," Riley recalls. "He spoke really nicely, he was very polite and respectful."

Maison and Riley were house-sitting that evening, so they declined. 

"He was like, 'Yeah, no worries. I totally understand.' We walked out of Starbucks and we were just like, 'This doesn’t feel right,'" Riley tells Castanet.

Katrina then offered to have Lancaster over at her house.

Everyone came over for a sleepover.

"He was super, super grateful. He came over to my folks’ house. We fed him dinner, he showed us some of his videos and we chatted for a while, it wasn’t a super late night. He was telling us about his family and kind of just learning where he comes from and what the point of his whole thing was," Maison says.

The next morning, Maison and Riley drove Lancaster to the Petro-Canada off Highway 1. They told him to call them if there were any issues getting a ride, and that it wouldn't be a problem if he needed to stay an extra night or two.

"It was cold. I remember wearing a few layers, a toque, maybe some gloves," Riley says.

"Eventually, he did call," Maison adds, noting there were "no hitchhiking" signs posted along the highway.

On the way to pick up Lancaster, the couple received a call from Maison's sister, Madyson. She had heard how the family put him up and wanted to help.

"My sister phoned me and said, 'I want to jump on board. I'm going to buy him a ticket to get to Vancouver.' She hadn't met him yet or anything, but she was like, 'I want to get involved.'"

The Cavalieres ended up splitting the ticket three ways; they hung out with Lancaster for a few hours before dropping him off at the bus depot.

Lancaster made it to Vancouver, 29 days after leaving the East Coast. He filmed his entire trip and shared snippets of it in TikTok videos this week. 

"I finally got my last ride. It wasn’t technically a hitchhike, but it was a true act of kindness. I don’t think there could have been a more fitting way to end this trip," Lancaster says in the video.

The TikTok video has garnered more than 79,000 likes and 1,200 comments.

Check it out here.

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