PITTSTON, Pa. — There's a chain of beads that firefighter Tom Heffers carries around with him when he responds to calls in the Pittston area. Each has a story.
"This bead here, it's out in California. I'm pen pals with the little girl," explained Heffers. "Her name's Dana, and she wore this for her last doctor's visit, and she has a necklace with it as the centerpiece."
This is part of the Beads of Courage program, brought to firefighters and other first responders in Pittston by the Palermo Heart to Heart Foundation as part of the annual Badges and Boots Campaign.
For the month of January, first responders will wear a pair of beads on their uniform. Then one of the beads will be given to a child in an area hospital.
"There's a card in there that you fill out, put your name, your job title, words of encouragement, and then you submit that back to Mr. Palermo, who sends them to the Beads of Courage Program, and they'll hand them out to the children. So they may stay local; we used to visit kids down at Janet Weis," said Heffers.
While these beads are meant to bring a little encouragement to children in area hospitals, firefighters in Pittston tell Newswatch 16 it does a little something for them too.
"Hand the beads out, and you leave there; you're feeling pretty crappy, mainly because you complain every day about your job, your life, or whatever, but you just dealt with over 100 kids, and they're not having good days," said Heffers. "It means a lot to carry these beads."
If your department would like to get involved with the Beads of Courage program, you can find more information by getting in touch with the Palermo Heart to Heart Foundation by clicking here.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube channel.