Alyssa Swafford
shows off the flag presented to here by
these members of the Arab Fire Department.
L-R: Lt. Blake Isom, Capt. Jimmy Yarbrough,
Alyssa Swafford, Firefighters Matt Farley and Jason Booker, and
Arab Fire Chief Ricky Phillips.
May 17, 2009
Read Alyssa's letter....
It's
almost always the little things in life that
make the biggest impact. When several
members of the Arab Fire Department sat down
for Breakfast last Wednesday, they had no
idea a Arab Primary School 2nd grader's
letter was about to impact their lives or
would lead them to make her life brighter.
Members of the
shift were reading letters from a booklet of
2nd grader letters that had been written to
the Arab Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6226
Appreciation Banquet held Monday night.
The
letter, by Alyssa Swafford, as told how
her grandfather had hurt his back during his
service. Alyssa asked if all American
soldiers have a flag at their house.
She explained that she had a flag pole but
no flag.
Those words
struck deep into the hearts of the
firefighters and set in motion a fast moving
chain of events that ended with Alyssa
receiving an American Flag to give to her
grandfather. Arab Fire Chief Ricky
Phillips said, "The men went into
action and in a very short time, we have her
Grandpa a flag, Mrs. Hawkins has been called
and the whole shift is on it’s way to the
primary school for a surprise visit to
Alyssa and to present her a new flag for her
Grandpa."
Phillips
continued, "We arrived at the school with
some staff members who knew what was going
on anxiously waiting on us. Mrs. Hawkins
brought her class to the front of the school
to visit with the firemen and see the fire
trucks, still not knowing what is going on.
Then Lt. Blake Isom spoke to the class for a
moment and asked for Alyssa to step forward,
he spoke of her letter and presented her
with a flag in honor of her Grandpa on
behalf of the Arab Fire & Rescue."
"I am proud of each one of our staff members
here who go above and beyond their calling
for service to the City and our department.
They make the most of an opportunity to
reach out to someone any opportunity they
get and put a smile on their face."
Phillips added.
Members of Mrs. Pam Hawkins'
second grade class and Arab Fire Department
personnel.
Photo special to Arab
Today
