Monday, March 26, 2012 / 5:51 pm

A Nice Story For A Nice Day

And it all started with a nice kid getting robbed...

by Tony Chavira

Tags: niceness | good deeds

This is Nolan Turner, and he has a story for you.

Because this was a hard Monday to get through after last night's episode of Mad Men and you've been extra good lately, I have a nice little story for you that begins with a tragic turn of events:

Seated in his wheelchair, Nolan Turner, 12, staked out his neighborhood Thursday evening to sell water bottles and raise money to bring his wheelchair basketball team to his elementary school.

“Everybody at school has been asking me what it’s like to (play basketball) in a wheelchair, and I want to show them,” the Briarcliff Elementary fifth-grader said.

He had already collected more than $250 – kept in a bucket – of the $1,000 needed to bring the experience of playing wheelchair basketball to his schoolmates.

But as he began to work the neighborhood near High Meadow Drive about 6:30 p.m., a man he didn’t recognize grabbed his money bucket and unhurriedly walked away, according to Cary Police Department Capt. Mike Williams. Nolan yelled and screamed at the man but was helpless to follow him.

Meanwhile, his dad went to GoFundMe.com, a site to post projects like this, and raised more than $500, which Nolan didn't realize until he came home. Here's what his dad initially wrote on the donation site:

My son Nolan Turner is trying to bring his wheelchair basketball team sponsor, BridgeIISports, to his school Briarcliff Elementary so that all of his friends can experience what it is like to play sports in a wheelchair.  He really enjoys it.

Then, finally, this happened and solidified Nolan's father as a formal candidate for Father-of-the-Year:

And the donations just keep on coming. Feel free and visit http://www.gofundme.com/hs6pc if you feel like chipping in and making the day even better.