Cubby’s honors Gardner
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The Cubby’s March Hero of the Month is a very special young lady who’s overcome lofty obstacles at only 30 months old, and yet she’s also one of the more fortunate youths in the area.
Everything about Olivia Gardner makes her parents, Ryan and Tonya, smile — particularly her curly locks, her spirit and her smile.
“She’s a spitfire,” Tonya said, “She knows what she wants and she wants it right now.”
Owners of The Cubby Chris and Cindy Johnson also saw how special Olivia is, which is why they named her their Hero of the Month.
“Her ability to strive and succeed is a lesson of hope to us all,” Cindy said. “It’s not only a pleasure, but an honor to award this remarkable young lady with the Hero of the Month Award.”
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The Cubby’s Hero of the Month for March was Olivia Gardner. Attending the check presentation for the young hero were, from left, front row: (holding Olivia) Tonya and Ryan Gardner of Presque Isle and manager of The Cubby Nikita Cate. Back row: Janie Smith, John and Christina Olsen, and Ann and Jim Kaiser.
Each month, the Johnsons select a Hero of the Month and donate $50 to the individual, but March met The Cubby owners with a little different twist.
When store manager Nikita Cate presented Ryan and Tonya the check for their 2-year-old with cerebal palsy, the couple matched the funds and handed it right back.
“Olivia has so much and so many people around her that we wanted to help someone else who could really use the money,” Ryan said.
This was the first time since The Cubby began awarding Hero’s of the Month that the donation had been returned and doubled.
“It’s really cool to have someone give back like that, and I think that’s what motivated Cindy and Chris to open up The Cubby; the community is so supportive and they wanted to be able to give back like this,” Cate said. “It’s just really cool to have someone give back, after we’ve given back.”
While the Johnsons sincerely appreciated Olivia’s award, they felt that others in the community were in greater need of the monetary support.
“Since we’ve adopted Olivia we’ve become so aware of the special needs community with children and there’s so much needed to get the necessary treatments; as parents, you need a little help,” Tonya said.
While Olivia has been faced with some pretty large challenges, there are many things that make Olivia one very fortunate little girl. For one, the Gardners weren’t exaggerating when they said Olivia has an extensive support system — family and friends that constitute the unofficial Olivia fan club went down to the store with the youngster April 7 for her big award debut, helping out where they could. Which came in quite handy when it came time to take Olivia’s photo, as 2-year-olds aren’t known for their ability to patiently pose for a photo.
But she sat perfectly still and smiled sweetly while her very own chorus of family and friends sang a couple of versus of the Munchkin Land song from The Wizard of Oz. (According to her father, Olivia responds very well to song and dance).
“We all raise her, all of us.” Tonya said. “It’s certainly not just Ryan and I.”
