It started as an unbelievably sad story of the dark side of human nature. In less than two hours, it became a story about people rising together to correct wrongdoing.

Overnight, the Brandon Thomas Memorial truck was stolen from the driveway of his mom, Kim Thomas. Within minutes of it being posted around 7:30 a.m. this morning, the auto community was on full alert and fully engaged in recovering the vehicle.

Calin Glenn caught sight of the truck on the Stoney Rd. and followed it to a Gas Plus service station in Balzac. The police were alerted and arrived on the scene to apprehend two suspects. The recovered 4Runner truck is distinctive. It's predominantly black with blue fenders and highlights and adorns hundreds of tributes to Brandon, whose life was claimed at the age of 17 by an impaired driver on Dec. 6, 2012.

Crying and in utter shock when she realized the truck had been stolen, Thomas quickly posted, "Please Help! Brandon's truck was stolen last night!" on Facebook. The response was immediate.

"Within a matter of five minutes, it was all over social media," says Thomas. "Every single truck, car, vehicle page, everybody's personal page... it was everywhere and people were out looking for it. The support was amazing, simply amazing. I just can't believe somebody would take Brandon's truck."

Glenn, who is a member of the Show Your Ride for Brandon Thomas planning committee, acted on a tip that the truck had been seen north of Bowden. He travelled north but having no luck started to head back to Calgary when he spotted Brandon's truck on the Stoney Rd heading eastbound. 

Kim Thomas was driven to the Balzac gas station and stayed until the vehicle was safely transported by Big Hill Towing, a staunch supporter of Show Your Ride. It's now safely locked away.

Thomas says she is feeling the love from her vast extended family of a caring auto community.

"It has to be the quickest stolen vehicle recover every. I am just stunned by everybody's support and I couldn't be more grateful to everybody that shared it and everybody who was looking for it provincewide."

"We have such an amazing support system for our organization. I am grateful to every single person, every single group and the police for managing to get Brandon's truck home. We'll do some work on it to make sure it doesn't happen again."

On Sunday, June 2, the truck was featured at the largest mini-meet yet hosted by Ramada Cochrane. The truck remains a centrepiece in all events of the Show Your Ride for Brandon Thomas Foundation. Over the years, the foundation has raised over $60,000 for many causes and also spreads the important message, "Don't Drink and Drive." 

On Sunday, June 9, the second of three events is being staged in advance of the major Show and Ride event being held in August A poker run is being jointly organized by the Show Your Ride committee and the United Bikers Against Child Abuse.

On July 7, there's also a cruise to Drumheller.