A Knox Community School Corporation bus driver and his grandson are being called heroes, after noticing a gas leak while delivering lunches Monday.
Bus driver Gerald Shadrix and his grandson had just dropped off a box of lunches to a family, when the grandson noticed the smell of gas, according to an email to school employees from Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart. They returned to the house and told the mother, who checked the stove and discovered that one of the burners had been left on.
Reichhart says the mother left a message at the elementary school the next morning, saying the burner had likely been left on for over 12 hours, and if it hadn’t have been for Shadrix and his grandson, the entire family would have been dead.
Reichhart says the two are “TRUE HEROES!!!!” and adds that, “While we may not be the richest county in the state, we are there for each other when people need it the most.” In all, Knox school employees packed and delivered more than 3,300 lunches and breakfasts for the week to over 550 homes.
Here’s Dr. Reichhart’s entire email sent to school employees Tuesday:
Yesterday, bus drivers and others graciously packed and delivered to over 550 homes in Starke County meals for the five days. This amounted to over 3300 lunches and breakfasts. To see all the KCSC employees coming together and volunteering their time, as well as risking the virus to help families is extraordinary and very rewarding. While we may not be the richest county in the state, we are there for each other when people need it the most. Stay Strong KCSC!
In addition, yesterday Gerald Shadrix, a KCSC bus driver, and his grandson were among the people delivering lunches. On one of their stops, they dropped off the box of lunches to a family and when the mother opened the door to accept the lunches, Gerald’s grandson who was masked said to grandfather, “It smells like gas in that house” as they walked back to get in the bus. As they got ready to board the bus, Gerald decided that they had to go back to the house and tell the mother.
When the mother opened the door again and greeted Gerald and his grandson she didn’t believe them when they told her they smelled gas from inside the home. However, she went over to her stove and discovered that the knob on one of the burners had been left on but was not lit. After the discovery, she opened the house up to get fresh air inside and her family was safe.
This morning, the mother called KES and left a message indicating that if it wouldn’t have been for the KCSC bus driver and his grandson, they all would have been dead. She did not know his name but wanted to make sure we knew about it. She said that after thinking about it, the burner had been left on for over 12 hours. She couldn’t thank us enough for the extra effort that Mr. Shadrix and his grandson made in delivering the lunches yesterday! What an awesome story! TRUE HEROES!!!!
Good things continue to happen even when faced with difficult times! Congratulations to each of you for doing all you can to help others!
BR
