Hewitt’s Heroes
As a young child, our son, Christian Jack-Douglas Bennett, always loved fire trucks and going to the fire station with his daddy. So, as he grew into an adult, that passion has continued. Hopefully, one day it will result in landing him a job with the department because he loves helping the fireman. Since he is so passionate, we decided to meet with the League City Fire Chief.
We approached the Fire Chief with ideas about how to include special needs young adults into community service. Christian’s Mom, Renee, leads a community parent support group called “Side by Side.” Their mission is to empower citizens through education to stand “Side by Side” with people with disabilities as they contribute to the community where we all live, learn, work, play, and pray. The primary belief is that “inclusion and acceptance would take place naturally if obstacles were not set before our clear path”. So the goal is to help remove the obstacles on our path in making everyone’s dream a reality.
Art Hewitt, who recently passed away, was a 61 year-old volunteer firefighter who had cared for Christian at League City Station 1 since Christian was a small child. Christian has helped clean the station and check trucks on drill night for over 15 years. This hard working group of adults (over the age of 18) looks forward each month to performing community service at the fire station. We refer to them as “ Hewitt’s Heros ”. The group also cleans the station, washes the trucks, and learns about fire safety and other health and safety initiatives of all public safety divisions. They learn simple firefighter tasks in a safe environment, but, would not respond to
calls, go into training fires, or drive any vehicles.
~ Renee Bennett (Proud Mom)
Share a Proud Moment with us Next Issue!
Proud Moments can be any time that you have been extremely proud of your child with special needs. It can be when they are giving it their all or reaching a milestone. We share Triumphs every Tuesday on Facebook or send via email to [email protected] [1]