UPDATE: My Dad and mom are truly overwhelmed by the beautiful outpouring of love and support. They're still taking time to let this all sink in, and they're so appreciative. It was a steady stream of people stopping by the house yesterday. To everyone who shared this, donated a dollar, stopped by my parents place, given them a call, or shared special memories - I personally can't thank everyone enough.

Hi, I'm Shayla!

Anyone who knows my dad, Wyatt Bond, knows that cars are not just a hobby to him. They are his love language, his identity, and the backdrop to almost every memory I have of him.

He has been racing since before it was probably legal for him to drive. He founded Bond Family Racing with his brother Warren when they were just teenagers, and racing has been part of our family ever since. I basically grew up at the Scotia Speedworld racetrack, and every photo I have of my dad seems to include a car somewhere in it. The majority of our family vacations were to racing destinations. His world revolves around cars!

My dad has been a mechanic in Kentville, Nova Scotia for over 40 years. His garage was where he worked, welded, painted, restored cars, fixed whatever needed fixing, and kept people moving. But anyone who spent time there knows it was never just a garage, it was truly a local watering hole.

It was the place people stopped by to hang out, borrow a tool, ask a question, get help with a vehicle, or just be around someone who always (ALWAYS) has a story to tell. My dad is famously known for talking your ear off, and somehow the wildest stories always turn out to be true.

He has always helped people, often for free or for far less than he should have charged. He let people pay when they could. He let people use his tools and his space, and over the years, there were often young people hanging around the garage, learning to work on cars, staying busy, and most importantly, staying out of trouble.

That is who my dad is.

He is the kind of person who made us late everywhere when I was a kid because he stopped to help someone with a flat tire on the side of the road, or collect some stray animal. He is the kind of person who invited people we didn’t know to holiday dinners because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. You night recognize him as a fixture at Walmart and Dollarama (the guy who looks time warped from the 70s), where he knows the employees, helps unbox Hot Wheels, and lights up at the chance of finding a treasure hunt.

After retiring from racing because of a back injury, his love of cars never slowed down. He built one of the biggest Hot Wheels collections in Nova Scotia, and what he loves most is sharing that joy with other peopl. If I told him one of my friends’ kids liked Hot Wheels, he would send them a massive box full of them.

For years, my dad also used his love of racing to give back. He and his racing team donated proceeds to The Lodge That Gives for Cancer after my grandmother stayed there during her treatment. (See news coverage). That is my dad - if something matters to him, he finds a way to help.

On Thursday, June 25, at around 12 a.m., a fire started at the front of his garage. Within an hour, it had engulfed the building while fire fighters worked all night to put it out. The entire garage was lost.

It was a large garage with an inspection ditch, a paint bay and upstairs storage. Inside were the tools he had collected over a lifetime, his welding equipment, painting equipment, mechanic tools, parts, materials, and the workspace he depended on to earn income.

The heat from the fire also damaged our family home (which thankfully was saved). The siding, which my parents had only recently been able to redo, was melted, and the back windows cracked from the heat. Unfortunately, my parents do not have home insurance, so there is no insurance coverage to help repair the damage to their home or replace what was lost in the garage.

Miraculously, one thing survived: his prized Capri roadster named Radical, the car he built as a teenager and one of the most meaningful pieces of his youth. Everything else in the garage was gone.

And because I know the people who know him will ask: no Hot Wheels were harmed in the fire. They were safely stored inside the house!

He is one of the most dependable people I know. He would pick me up at 2 a.m. without hesitation. He would show up in an emergency. He would help anyone who needed him. Likely the only bad thing I may have learned from him is his stubbornness and his inability to ask for help! And that is why I am asking for him.

My dad would never ask for a dime on his own. He barely agreed to let me make this page. So that is why my brother and I am setting this up because I know there are people who love him, people he has helped, people who have sat in that garage, people who have been part of the racing community with him, and people who know what he has given to others over the years.

We are hoping to raise enough to help replace the damaged siding and cracked windows on my parents’ home, replace basic tools so my dad can start working again, and, if possible, begin rebuilding something small and humble where he can get back to doing what he loves.

I know times are hard for many people right now. Truly, anything helps whether its simply words of encouragement, tools, hands on help, even $5 goes a long way.

If my dad has ever helped you change a tire, fixed something when you needed it, talked your ear off (mostly this), sent Hot Wheels to your kids, welcomed you into the garage, or made you feel like part of the family, this is a chance to give a little of that care back to him.

Thank you for helping support a man who has spent his life showing up for everyone else.

With love and much gratittude,

Shayla, Wyatt’s daughter