Strangers help single mom in need of new tires

MARYSVILLE, Wash. — Nobody wants to drop hundreds of dollars on new tires, especially when money is already tight, so a Marysville business went the extra mile for a single mom who was caught in a jam.

Most customers at the Marysville Firestone are in and out in about a half-hour, but some others leave a lasting impression.

"She looked like she had a lot on her plate," manager Jerry McArthur said of one of those customers.

Jerry has changed a lot of tires, but not many like Hailley Thome's.

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“They were terrible. They were terrible. One of them had steel cord showing through it. Two of them were just beyond bald,” Jerry said.

“I could only go, like, 40 miles an hour to, like, 62,” Hailley told us.

Hailley needed four new tires -- immediately. The only problem was:

"I work six days a week, bring the girls about three days. That's what? Seventy-two hours?
Single mom," Hailley said.

With twin 1-year-old girls, Hailley could not swing a $400 tire bill.

“What?

No!” Hailley remembered thinking.

“’Well, that sucks. I can probably do two but I can’t do the other two right now. It’s just going to have to wait,’” she told Jerry.

But without hesitation, he told her the store would cover the cost of the other two tires.

Hailley was floored, but there’s more.

“Then they called my name to give me the keys and I asked, ‘All right, how much do I owe you?’” Hailley said.

Jerry, who is the father of two little girls himself, said four words that made a lasting impression on Hailley.

“You owe me nothing,” Hailey said, repeating Jerry's words to her.

“She didn’t come in asking for it or expecting to get a free set of tires, so she was just very thankful,” Jerry said.

Both of them called it an early Christmas gift.

Cox Media Group