When a Michelin-starred chef in England had over 2,000 Christmas pies stolen on their way to a Christmas fair, an unlikely baker stepped in to help.
The story comes from the country’s northeast, where an award-winning Christmas market called the St. Nicolas Fair in the city of York, was set to feature 2,500 pies baked by Chef Tommy Banks, whose restaurant received the coveted star in 2013 during his first year as head chef.
However, the van transporting the pies to the event was stolen, driven off, and abandoned, with all the pies inside perishing.
Autistic 11-year-old Joshie Harris was reading the news with his father, and although he is non-verbal, he understood what was happening—that a man was sad, and that pies needed to be baked.
When they had finished reading the news report, Joshie held up an iPad which he uses to communicate. On it, he wrote, “I see sad man, pies finished.”
“Joshie doesn’t speak but cooking and baking is his way of showing creativity,” Dan Harris, Joshie’s father, told the BBC. “He wanted to show especially at Christmas that these kinds of things shouldn’t be happening.”
Since then Joshie has been busy baking dozens of pies of all different flavors, but especially his personal favorite, apple pie.
Mr. Harris has been in touch with Chef Banks, and the family hopes to be able to hand off all the pies on Saturday. Any which he can’t use will be donated, the family told the BBC, to a food bank.
This story is so inspiring in the sense that, despite his age and condition Joshie still sees the need to step in and lend a hand to someone out there. When the mind is doused in empathy, truly every situation presents an opportunity to exercise our humaneness…kindness.