This is the first in a series of many articles this summer, in which The Kindness Bus Tour will visit first responders from the five boroughs of New York City.
Concentrating on the fire houses of Manhattan to begin my journey, I quickly realized that this is going to take some time. With two-hundred twenty firehouses scattered throughout the five boroughs and police, hospitals and port authority to follow, this will take the better part of a few months.
My first stop was the northernmost part of Manhattan on Vermilyea Avenue. As I pulled in, I saw that a group of very young children was getting a class in fire safety. Bogart was an instant hit with the children. Two of the firefighters, Kevin and Brian, were quite helpful in giving the background and history of some of the fire houses. The looks on the faces of these young children showed keen interest in these heroes and the work they perform. I can think of no better role-models to teach our children of. They are role-models for all of us.
Today I visited 13 firehouses, six of them were on calls or getting back from calls. These guys are busy around the clock in the most dangerous of situations. They deserve our nonstop respect.
At the West 143rd firehouse, a firefighter, Tommy, said “I saw your bus at a school in Long Island two weeks ago”.  The message of kindness and the work firefighters perform, go hand in hand.
My visit to the East 85th firehouse started as I stepped off the bus and I saw the plaque with 9 faces of heroes who gave their lives on 9/11.
I ended my day a little earlier than planned.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Kindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.