SOUTH ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — When a woman living with autism lost her beloved stuffed animal a few weeks ago, her dad lost all hope in getting it back. But several people were in the right place at the right time, and the power of social media got Peter the Rabbit back to its owner nearly a week later.
"With the tragedy we saw the last two weeks here, and all the bad news people get, I think this is a breath of fresh air," said Mark Lynn.
Mark Lynn and his daughter Nicole love going through the drive-thru at the McDonalds in South Abington Township. Nicole's order is an orange iced tea, her dad's is a diet coke. Always along for the ride, is Peter the Rabbit. Nicole calls him Petey.
"She never goes anywhere without it. She sleeps with it, takes it to the bathroom takes it to the dentist, takes it to the eye doctor, takes it to school. If it's not with her, we know something is wrong," Lynn said.
Nicole is 25 years old and lives with autism. Petey means the world to her. But two Saturdays ago, she lost him.
Her dad says he spent nearly a week tearing his house and office apart looking for Petey. He finally just assumed it was gone forever. But while Lynn was looking for the stuffed rabbit, E Krenitsky was looking for the stuffed rabbit's owner.
"I could see it was loved very well, so I knew someone was missing it. I just ran out, threw on a safety vest, ran out and grabbed it," she explained.
Krenitsky was working at the McDonalds drive-thru that Saturday when she spotted Petey on the ground. At the time, she could have never imagined how hard it would rain - and how flooded this parking lot would be - just a few hours later. Krenitsky's manager posted a photo of Petey on the Clarks Summit Community Facebook Page. That's where Jackie Galvin comes into the story.
"As soon as I opened my phone it was there, it was meant to be. I looked at it, and I thought 'is that Petey?'" Galvin said.
Galvin is the Director of Communications and Development United Cerebral Palsy of Northeastern Pennsylvania; the program Nicole attends five days a week. She says anything that is important to Nicole, is of course important to everyone at UCP. So, she recognized Petey immediately and called Nicole's dad.
"I came in and she said 'what would you like?' And I said a diet coke and a rabbit," Lynn recalled the day they got Petey back.
Nicole was reunited with Petey last Thursday, almost a full week after she lost him. Her dad says she must have thrown him out the window of the drive-thru without him realizing. All of the people who love Nicole most wanted to share her story because they thought everyone could use a smile right now.
"Some people might think it's not important, and some people realize that it is. She didn't know who it was for or who it belonged to, but she knew it was important to somebody," Galvin said.
That somebody is just absolutely thrilled to have Petey back for good.