Five teens in Caldwell, Idaho, are being praised after video of them assisting an elderly man and bringing him home went viral on Facebook.
Victor Ornelas, Isaac Hernandez, Diego Ramirez, Devan Ornelas and Josh Sorg were each headed to play basketball when they drove past an elderly man, Jose Gomez, who had fallen to the ground with his walker.
“I was like, ‘Oh, he fell,’” Hernandez said to KTVB-TV. “So we parked, and we all ran out, and then we picked him up, and we asked if he was OK. He said yeah, he was fine.”
To ensure that the man was in fact safe, the friends escorted Gomez back to his house and came inside to check him for injuries.
“His knee was bleeding,” Hernandez said. “And so we grabbed napkins and we put alcohol on and we cleaned him up.”
The boys were unaware while helping the elderly man that a neighborhood woman by the name of Erika Tovar captured the entire exchange and published the good deed on Facebook.
“I had dropped off my kids at their cousin’s house, and on my way home I spotted a elderly man walking,” Tovar shared with Yahoo Lifestyle. “He was very stable, so once I had passed him I kept my eye on him in my rearview mirror, and sure enough, he fell.”
Tovar noted how she then made a quick U-turn but so did the car behind her.
“So we both parked and [the boys] jumped out pretty quick and helped the old man up,” she said. “I figured there were enough people to help, so I just started snapping pics.”
Eventually, Tovar’s post made it to the folks who run The Sweet Spot Bakery nearby.
Owner Kathy Plaisance re-posted the pictures, requesting her followers if anyone could identify the teens.
“We would sure like to treat them to a treat on us!” Plaisance posted. “What a wonderful positive story! Great job boys! This makes our hearts happy!”
Tery Gomez, the elderly man’s daughter, was quickly able to track down the boys. She then brought her father to meet with the teens at The Sweet Spot Bakery, where every boy was given lots of sweet treats.
“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,” Plaisance told ABC 10. “They are hometown heroes for Caldwell.”
But it was not the only thank you gifts they received — they also were gifted massages, haircuts, food and more thanks to Gomez’s appreciative daughter who collected from area businesses.
“Caldwell is kind of seen in the negative most of the time and this is beyond positive,” she said. “We have some great things happening in Caldwell. So everyone wanted to show some love to the boys.”
Gomez was so appreciative of the boys that he made a trip to the bakery to thank the boys.
“I was walking just right, and then suddenly I went down,” he shared with ABC 10. “And then they come over and they [said], ‘You want us to take you to your room?’ So I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ It made me feel good.”
The group of boys shared with KTVB-TV how taken aback they were when the post went viral on Facebook.
“We did it to help someone out,” they said. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
They also shared how they still visit Gomez to check up on him.
“They remind me of myself when I was younger,” Gomez said.
But the public is not the only one praising them — their mom’s are too.
“So proud of you boys! Love you,” Hernandez’s mother, Rosanne, posted to Facebook.
A few of the moms even reached out to Tovar to thank her for sharing the photos.
“It would be awesome for the boys to meet you,” Jeana Ornelas, mom of one of the teens, wrote to Tovar.
“It touched my heart how caring these boys are,” Tovar shared with Yahoo Lifestyle on her choice to broadcast the heartfelt deed. “I wanted my Facebook friends to see. But I didn’t think it would go viral!”
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