Mr. Ronnie’s Donuts Employee Gets a Christmas Surprise

Bergeron has worked at Mr. Ronnie’s Donuts for nearly three years. General Manager Wendy Picou described Chris as a dedicated employee and said he always got to work, and if something happened to his bike, he would walk. She said a lot of people make excuses and Bergeron never did, “he shows up, he does his job, and he is very dedicated and loyal. He’s a hard worker.” Just a week shy of Christmas, Bergeron knocked off of his shift at 6 a.m. to find the seat stolen off of his bike. 

He said the incident didn’t bother him that much and he responded calmly. He said he went outside, and he knew it had been raining, so he really didn’t want to make the trip home. Upon finding his seat gone, he shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I guess I’ll just go pull the cameras.” He got a ride home that day, and the rest of the week, but unbeknownst to him, that will change sooner than he would ever know.

The news of the incident made it to a Facebook community group called “Da Buzz” where Houma native Colleen Chiasson saw the post. She said at first, she commented on the post, and she wanted to get him a new bike, but then she felt like she needed to do more than that. She knew it was God leading her to try and come up with funds to purchase a vehicle for Bergeon, “I just wanted to right a wrong,” she said, “and shedding light on something that was a bad situation.” Her husband, Ron Chiasson, has also been on board since the beginning. She said this gesture wasn’t about them at all, “it’s about doing something good in the spirit of Christmas and following God’s calling. That’s all it’s about.” She said it starts with one person and then it spreads. She described her family motto by describing a piece of art in her home, “I have a picture, a canvas of a tree above my fireplace and it symbolizes it starts at roots and it spreads to the fruit because it always starts with us,” she tearfully shared.

Chaisson reached out to “Da Buzz” administrator Nicole Marie about the idea that she wanted to raise money to purchase a vehicle for Bergeron and wanted to post on the group page. She said nothing would have happened the way it did without that initial conversion with Nicole. Chaisson then reached out to a friend and owner of a local small business, Regal Motors owned by Lana and Dallas Freeman. Lana was so excited and immediately on board with the initiative. She started asking Chaisson questions about Bergeron which made Chiasson realize she didn’t know him at the time, so she reached out to the owners of the community-loving doughnut shop and they immediately told her that he is more than deserving of the gesture.

Wendy Picou said that she was speechless and dumbfounded when she got the call about the gesture,” I’m not a person that’s normally speechless, but she did that.” She said she knew that his seat was stolen, she even found footage of the incident, but she was clueless about what was happening on Facebook. The next thing she knew, it evolved into a community member wanting to take a sad situation and make it a heartfelt one, and she said she actually cried when she got the call.

Fast forward to Thursday, December 23, when Bergeron received a call from a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Officer where was told he needed to go identify something about the case. He accepted a ride but was surprised when they turned into a lot that wasn’t the station. “At first, I was thinking this wasn’t the sheriff’s office.” He said it didn’t click until he got out of the unit and was handed the keys to a Toyota that was now his. “It’s going to be a lot easier commute,” he exclaimed.

The day was filled with smiles, tears, hugs, and very kind words from the crew. The owners of Mr. Ronnie’s Donuts, Regal Motors, Colleen Chiasson, and her husband Ron Chiasson all shared beautiful words of not only how gracious they were of a community with such a big heart, but also of the partnership it took to make the dream a reality. Everything came into place beautifully, and fairly quickly, all in time for Christmas.