A group of boys was hailed as hometown heroes after photos of them went viral.
Devan Ornelas, Diego Ramirez, Isaac Hernandez, Josh Sorg, and Victor Ornelas seem like a typical group of high schoolers driving to their place to play basketball. But fate took them to a little detour when they saw an elderly man fall on the sidewalk.
It was a case of being at the right place at the right time, and thankfully so.
Isaac stepped on the brakes and parked the car. All five boys went out and rushed to help the old man. They asked if he was okay, and although the man replied that he was fine, the boys knew he still needed help. The boys walked him home to ensure he was perfectly safe.
But that wasn’t all the boys did. They saw Jose was bleeding, so they helped him out.
“We helped him inside, and his knee was bleeding. So, we grabbed napkins put alcohol on them, and cleaned him up,” Isaac recalled what happened to KTVB7.
Jose Gomez was thankful the boys passed by him that day, being at the right place and time.
He didn’t know what had caused his fall. All he knew was that he held his walker tightly and then fell. Then he noticed these five teenage boys helping him up, asking if he was okay, and walking him home.
Little did they know that someone saw what they did, snapped a few photos, and posted them on Facebook.
Erika Tovar passed by that same street when Jose fell on the sidewalk. She took a U-Turn to try to help him, only to find that heartwarming scene. So, she took her phone and shared their good deeds. Her post went viral all over Caldwell and even the world.
This caught the attention of the locals, and they came together to celebrate the group’s good deeds.
Homegrown bakery owner Kathy Plaisance of The Sweet Spot Bakery shared Erika’s post on her page and asked the community’s help to find the five boys in the photo. She wanted to honor the boys and hail them as their hometown heroes.
All five were showered with gift cards and certificates from local businesses to thank them.
Erika gathered all the gifts for all five and invited them to her bakery with their well-deserved pastries designed for the occasion. She also had a surprise guest for them – Jose himself. He said he wanted to personally thank the boys, especially since their help never stopped that day. They continued to visit Jose and check how he was.
Asked about the viral post, this group of teenagers was quick to deflect any special credit.
“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. “I think it makes us all feel good because we are out here helping other people… and we don’t expect anything in return,” he added.
Watch their little get-together in the bakery in the video below.
