New dad gets helping hand - Published Wednesday July 22nd, 2009

FREDERICTON - Shaun Nixon said he'd be out on the street with his four-month-old son Tobias if it hadn't been for the eleventh-hour generosity of a Fredericton firefighter.

Enlarge Photo Stephen MacGillivray PhotoStephen MacGillivray/canadaeast news serviceShaun Nixon holds his son Tobias with Shawnee Main and her son Graeson. haun Nixon said he'd be out on the street with his four-month-old son Tobias if it hadn't been for the eleventh-hour generosity of a Fredericton firefighter.

Nixon and Tobias had been living in the Comfort Inn on Prospect Street since his girlfriend abandoned them about a month ago.

But recently, he ran out of money to pay for his hotel stay and, with no family or friends nearby, he faced a daunting future.

Nixon couldn't turn to the Fredericton Men's Shelter because of Tobias and the Transition House doesn't allow men.

The government-subsidized apartment he'd secured isn't available until Aug. 1.

Nixon and Tobias had nowhere to go.

That's until Shawnee Main, a firefighter and single mom, heard about Nixon's struggles on the evening newscast.

She felt she had to do something, so she paid him a visit with words of encouragement, a pile of baby supplies and a promise to pay his hotel bill until his apartment is ready.

"It really hit me. I am a single mom with a big support system, but I couldn't imagine not knowing where my kid is going to sleep at night," she said. "(Nixon) has no family here in Fredericton that I know of.

"He must've felt pretty overwhelmed," she said. "He's a new parent and he's doing it on his own and that alone is tough. I felt for him."

"(What she did) meant everything to me," Nixon said. "I didn't have any time at all and she really saved my rear.

"Knowing that a total stranger would step up like this and help me out just means the world."