Colin Dorreen struck a chord with thousands in the Rotorua community after helping locals with their groceries during wild weather.
Colin Dorreen struck a chord with thousands in the Rotorua community after helping locals with their groceries during wild weather.
A Rotorua teen has been praised by thousands for his acts of kindness helping shoppers.
Rain hammered down and wind whipped through Fenton St Woolworths carpark last Saturday, with shoppers struggling to keep dry.
Then out strode Colin Dorreen - a 16-year-old built like hometown heroSteven Adams with a “heart of gold”, said Rotorua local Jenny Bushett.
The Year 11 Rotorua Boys’ High School student approached Bushett outside the supermarket after noticing she had a walker and a heavy load of groceries, offering to help.
The 55-year-old, who said she lives with extensive nerve damage that often causes her to fall, said Colin’s offer to help with her groceries made a bigger impact than he could have imagined.
“What a truly beautiful boy,” Bushett said.
Waiting for her taxi, she then watched as the 2.03 metre tall teen dashed through the rain, with arms full of groceries that weren’t his, helping one senior shopper after another to their cars.
He wasn’t looking for attention. He just kept going, person after person, Bushett said.
It was a rare sight for the younger generation, in Bushett’s view, and “restores some faith in humanity”.
Bushett snapped a quick photo of the “gentle giant” and posted it online.
The image was later shared on the Rotorua Community Facebook page, where it has attracted more than 18,000 likes and hundreds of comments.
For Colin, the sudden attention was unexpected.
“It made me feel noticed and happy that people were positive and that it made their day. My classmates just said they saw me on Facebook and that their parents showed them.”
He said he had simply been passing the time while his sister scanned through their own groceries.
Colin decided to help after seeing an older couple walking in the rain, and said he wound up helping about three people.
His father, Colin Dorreen snr, said he first got word of his son’s actions when the siblings returned from the supermarket.
His daughter told him, “Dad, you’re probably going to get a call from a random number. Colin helped some elderly people put away their shopping, and one of them is going to make him a cake”.
Bushett later baked Colin a banana cake as a thank you.
Colin snr said his son “really does deserve” the opportunity, having overcome “so much along the way”.
“I couldn’t be more thankful for the way everyone has embraced my son,” he said.
“We really have some good people in our community.”
Woolworths Fenton St store manager Justin Herewini said Colin never sought recognition from staff for his “selfless act”, which reflected his “humble character and compassionate nature”.
Herewini said Colin showed “exceptional initiative” and was “an inspiring example for the entire community”.
Page creator Joe Dorset said he had known Colin for some time, describing him as a “great young man and role model”.
“I can vouch for him as a humble, kind and gentle giant with solid values … In a world where there is so much negativity, he seems to have given a lot of people hope for the next generation.”
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.