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A family in Turlock lost everything in a house fire last week. It happened just before their 9-year-old son, Connor, was supposed to go back to school and return to football practice.
Knowing the family was going through a difficult time, Turlock Firefighters stepped in to give Connor a ride in a fire truck on the first day of school. They even let him sit up front. And it didn’t end there.
Using the "Random Acts of Kindness" fund from the Turlock firefighters union, some of the same firefighters that originally responded to his family's house fire took him to a sporting goods store and bought him football gear and shoes to replace what he lost in the fire before school started. They say it was the "least they could do."
"Our firefighters are always looking for that opportunity to make a difference in people's lives, whether it's on an emergency scene or beyond that call of trying to check in with those families, with those people that we come into contact with. [We] try to help...give them some hope, to try to help them move on from whatever they're experiencing right now," Kevin Tidwell, a spokesman for the Turlock Fire Department said.
The "Random Acts of Kindness" fund is based solely on community donations. The Turlock Firefighters, Local #2434 union does two fundraisers a year to keep the kindness going, including a Crab Feed in January and a Boot Drive in April.
If you'd like to donate separately, contact the union directly through their Facebook page here.
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