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How a crime is turning into an act of kindness for local comedian

Comedian Emanuel Melo wants to give back to the community after they helped get his stolen vehicle returned

Stand-up comedian Emanuel Melo wasn’t laughing when he awoke last week to find his car had been stolen.

“I was at Sidelines in Cambridge the night before,” Melo explained.

“I woke up in the morning and was going to get a coffee. When I opened my door I saw my car was gone.”

His initial thought was that he had parked it somewhere different the night before, but after a few moments he realized that wasn’t the case.

“I called the police and my friends told me to put a post on Facebook,” he said. 

“As a single father of three, my first worry was how was I going to get my kids to school. Buying a new car for $5,000 might as well be a million dollars.”

Melo’s posts on Facebook garnered mass attention with over 100 shares. A friend let him borrow his car so he could get around, another lent him $100 for groceries since his wallet was in his vehicle and many others kept an eye out around the city for his black Kia Sedona.

“Some girl who I worked with a few times and barely know called and offered me a car to use while I got things figured out,” Melo said.

“It was amazing to see the kindness of everyone. I broke down in tears.”

Melo continued to get messages and phone calls from people who had spotted his car around Cambridge last week but each time the police were a little too late to catch the culprits. Then on Friday and Saturday, the sightings stopped.

“That’s when I thought ‘uh oh’,” he said.

“I started to think whoever stole it was getting smart and maybe changed out my custom license plate, or got rid of the car.”

At that point, one of his friends and a fellow comedian had the idea to host a stand-up comedy show as a fundraiser to help Melo purchase a new vehicle.

“Then, I was on my way to Toronto to visit my mother and I got a call from someone who had just got off the phone with police and told them they had seen my car,” he said.

“I immediately called the police and by the time I got through to anyone, they already had my car boxed in the Cambridge Bingo parking lot and had made an arrest.”

The people who stole the car cleaned it out, stealing a guitar Melo uses for his shows, some camping equipment and even a pair of nail clippers, but he was just glad to have it back.

Melo was so moved by the support of his friends and people he had never met in the community that he wanted to find a way to give back.

“Now that the car has been found, a lot of the comics are still interested in doing the show so we're going to do a toy drive along with it,” he said.

“I want to pay it forward and thank the community for looking out for each other. I always tell my kids that we live in a world with so much danger we forget there’s a lot of good people. The message is to be kind to people and have faith in this world.”

The show will be taking place at The Hemlock Barn likely at the end of October, with further details coming soon. Melo will be posting all the details in the coming weeks on his Instagram account @MeloComedy.