When five teens were on their way driving to play basketball in Caldwell, Idaho, they saw an elderly man on the sidewalk struggling with his walker, who then fell to the ground.
The five young men, Victor Ornelas, Isaac Hernandez, Diego Ramirez, Devan Ornelas, and Josh Sorg immediately turned their car around and went to see if they could help.
“I saw that he fell so I stepped on my brakes,” Isaac said. “We parked and we all ran out. We picked him up and we asked if he was okay.”
The elderly man, Jose Gomez, had some scrapes and wasn’t seriously injured, but the boys insisted on helping walk him all the way to his house just to make sure. After they walked him home, they even helped wash his scraped knee and clean it up.
“He said he was fine, so we just kept walking with him,” Isaac explained. “We said we were going to walk him all the way to his house. We helped him inside, and his knee was bleeding. So, we grabbed napkins put alcohol on it and cleaned him up.”
Mr. Gomez was deeply grateful for the help he received from these kind young men;
“I was just falling down I don’t know what happened. They picked me up. I was walking just right and then sadly I went down, and they come up and say ‘Hey, want us to take you home?’ And I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ It made me feel good,” he said.
Little did Isaac and his friends know that there was another neighbor who was driving by at the time, and who captured their whole beautiful act of kindness on camera. Erika Tovar watched as the five young men helped Mr. Gomez up, and walked him all the way home, each doing their best to take care of him. She was so touched that she decided to share the photos on Facebook along with this message;
“Shout out to these young boys for helping an elderly man off the ground after he fell and walking him home. If any of you have elderly family check on them make sure they are okay!”
The story quickly was shared and appreciated by thousands online, gaining the attention of the media and also of many of the local Caldwell business owners. Caldwell residents were thankful to hear of some kind news happening in their town, and while the boys were not looking for attention, the local business owners wanted to reward them.
The owner of the Sweet Spot Bakery in Caldwell, Kathy Plaisance, saw the photos on Facebook and shared them on her business page. She then decided to invite all five teens and Mr. Gomez to her bakery for some free treats to thank them;
“We got them cupcakes and cookies with their names on it and cookies that say ‘hometown heroes’ because that’s how we feel about them. They are hometown heroes for Caldwell,” Kathy said.
Eight other businesses gave the young men gift cards, free lunches and even free haircuts. “Everyone wanted to show some love to the boys,” Caldwell resident Teri Gomez said.
Isaac and his friends were both surprised and overwhelmed from the encouragement from online and their community;
“Crazy how it blew up. We didn’t do it for the attention, we just did it out of the kindness of our hearts. It’s just the right thing to do,” Isaac said.
The young men have continued to visit Jose to check up on him and say that they now have made a friend for life. “They remind me of myself when I was younger,” Jose Gomez said.
One commenter on Facebook said;
“God Bless those young men. They were raised right, with love and compassion for others.”
Another commented;
“This is just the sweetest thing ever. Helping him up to start with stopping the car to get out was awesome but walking him home and also even cleaning up his scraped up knee, that’s so precious. Kudos to these boys & the parents for raising the kind of gentlemen we need.”
With all of the attention the media chooses to give to violence, mass shooters and negativity, it’s wonderfully refreshing and inspiring to see a story about the kind youth that are helping people, in every city, every day. If you think this type of kind behavior should be encouraged, praised, given media attention and modeled after instead, please share this story online with your friends and family and let’s make compassion the louder voice.
You are Loved.
Watch the interview with the kind teens in the video below:
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