When David Hove set up his baked-goods business called The Hove Delights for the day in late August, he had no idea he would be getting to witness the good in humanity, but first, he would have to experience some of the bad.
On Aug. 27, David, who just turned 11, had set up his table outside his house in Toronto and planned on selling lemon-cranberry scones made by his sister and business partner, 15-year-old Kimberly Hove. He was selling alone that day because, while Kimberly handles the baking, David handles the sales.
They both started their business operated outside of their home to make money for electronics they both wanted to purchase: Kimberly wanted to get an iPhone and David set his first goal as an Xbox.
“I was selling scones and then I had to use the bathroom, so I went inside and bought my scones and the cashbox,” David told TODAY Food. “When I returned outside, it was all gone.”
David first told his mother about the missing items from his setup, which included a folding table, a cooler, a water bottle and even some foil that was sitting on the table.
“I was sad. I thought it was my fault,” he said.
The only thing the thief didn’t steal was the stand’s handwritten sign that read “Homemade lemon cranberry scones $3.50 each” and another with the stand’s social media handles, which were attached to the table before it was taken.
“When we looked over the footage, we saw that it was in fact stolen,” Kimberly told TODAY. “Before we didn’t know, because we didn’t see it. But we have cameras.”
Kimberly and David’s mother looked at their home’s security video to see how the table was taken in broad daylight. In it, a man wearing sunglasses pulls up in a white SUV, opens his trunk and steals the items. The man appears to have a child in the backseat as well.
Once their father, also named David, came home and found out about the robbery, he decided to take action. Instead of filing a police report, the patriarch took the video to area reporters hoping to find the culprit.
“It pains my heart to see my kids going through this,” he said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. “They came up with the initiative to do something, hard-working for themselves … but it's giving them life lessons.”
The father later asks the man caught on video to return the items, which, so far, hasn’t happened. Instead, their community, first local, then more widespread, came through for him. Neighbors David Ricci and his wife, Elizabeth Aiello, came by days after the incident and donated a new cooler, table and $20, putting Hove Delights back in business.
“It was kind of slow at first, but a few days later, the police came by because they saw our story,” said Kimberly, adding that afterward, the Hove family started receiving much more support. "Me and David, we were very surprised about the support. There are bigger issues, obviously, than our cooler and our stuff being stolen, but people wanted to help. And our community was so supportive.”
“They’re very nice and kind and awesome. People are very generous,” said (the younger) David. “They always always give me tips.”
With time, word had spread further and people have been reaching out to help David, Kimberlyand the rest of the family in any way they can. Kimberly said that after R. Michael McWhorter, who goes by @TizzyEnt on social media, shared the story on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, people outside of Canada began clamoring to help them out.
Some folks even tried to start a GoFundMe for the pair, which they declined because, as Kimberly said, they want to earn the money themselves.
The Hove family told CTV News in a follow-up interview that a representative of Stadia Glass and Door, a local Toronto business, stopped by one afternoon to deliver the Xbox gaming system that David was saving up to buy. But that doesn’t mean David or Kimberly will be hanging up their aprons just yet.
“People have reached out internationally, but we can’t really sell to them as of yet,” Kimberly said. “We’re still trying to figure it out.”
Kimberly is still saving and hoping for the newest iPhone as they work weekends through the school year, mostly operating on local orders made in advance that can be picked up. She said she’s not picky about whether she'll be able to get an iPhone 14 or not — a 12 would do just fine, she said. Now that David has an Xbox, he has his sights set on a new goal: an item he can’t even use for a few years.
“A car,” he said. “Like a Honda or something like that.”
