Ryan Reynolds has proven time and time again that he's one of the good guys. His larger-than-life sense of humor is what the 43-year-old is best known for. His big heart rivals that easily, as can be seen with his latest offer.
Ryan took to Twitter to offer a $5,000 reward for a missing teddy bear. That bear doesn't belong to one of Ryan and wife Blake Lively's three little girls, however. The teddy bear belongs to a woman named Mara Soriano. CBC reporter Deborah Goble shared Mara's crushing story.
The bear contains a voice recording from Mara's mom. She calls it Mama Bear. The recording has Mara's mom saying how much she loves her and is proud of her. It's the only recording of her mom's voice that Mara has from before her mom got sick. She passed away last year, making the bear mean that much more. The hunt for Mama Bear has gotten a lot of attention as folks continue hoping for a happy ending.
Ryan Reynolds can be a goofball, but he also has a heart of gold. The 43-year-old actor stepped up to help a woman be reunited with a teddy bear with immeasurable sentimental value. Her name is Mara Soriano, and she was robbed of a backpack containing a lot of important items.
Mara and her fiancé were moving into a new apartment in Vancouver's West End on Friday. Mara received a call from a friend who was biking over to help them. She learned her friend had been hit by a work van en route to her, so she dropped everything and hopped in a car to go get him.
In her panic, Mara put down a bag that she was about to bring up the stairs into her new place. She leaned the bag up against the van they were using to move their things and left. She forgot to mention to her fiancé where the bag was. When he looked around a few minutes later, it was gone.
The Herschel backpack contained Mara's passport, her checkbook, other important personal documents belonging to her and her fiancé, her iPad, and her Nintendo Switch. It also contained her prized possession, her teddy bear.
The teddy bear was a gift from Mara's mother, Marilyn Soriano. The custom Build-a-Bear contained her voice, delivering a message of reassurance. Marilyn died of cancer last June at 53 years old.
Mama Bear, as Mara calls the beloved treasure, is the last memento Mara has of her mom's voice before she went into hospice.
"At hospice her voice was different. Much softer. Not the mom I grew up with," she explained to CBC. "That bear is the last memory I have of her speaking in her normal voice."
"She said that she loved me and she was proud of me and that she'll always be with me."
Ryan learned of Mara's situation when CBC broadcaster Deborah Goble shared the story. Ryan decided to make a very generous offer. He offered $5,000 for the safe return of Mara's beloved Mama Bear. Several prominent figures have shared her story, a few even offering to add to the reward.
Mara asked her building for security footage and is waiting to obtain it to share with the public. She was able to view it herself in the meantime.
"Lo and behold on the security footage, this guy was seen looking around, making sure nobody was looking first," she described. "And he just took the bag and ran."
Two local restaurants also supplied Mara with footage. Using the three, she was able to figure out a route that the thief took. There is still not enough to identify the person who stole the items, however. She's working on making all the footage public to get the public's help in identifying the person.
Deborah also continues to help Mara out. She and a cameraman planned to go with Mara as she embarked on a search. They hoped to locate the bear, which they believed might have been discarded by the thief in favor of the items with greater perceived value.
Mara was born in the Philippines and moved to Toronto when she was 9. She moved to Vancouver five years ago.
"It's a reminder of home," she said. "The bear has a message in it in Filipino. It says 'I love you,' but in our language. So it's very specific and very unique."
"I just really want to find my bear," she added. "That's all that I care about."
It would be four days before this story saw a happy ending. Mara received an email from someone believing they knew where the bear was. After working with Deborah and CBC, two Good Samaritans dropped the bear off at the network, where Mara was reunited with it.
The individuals recovered the bear from the thief who stole Mara's belongings. It was in perfect condition. The only thing missing was the bear's glasses, but that's an easy-enough fix. The look on Mara's face as she hears her mother's message again is truly heartwarming.
"Mama Bear's home," she said relievedly, on the brink of tears.
