Elderly Man Falls on the Sidewalk, Teenagers Pick Him Up and Walk Him Back Home

Four teenagers in Caldwell few weeks ago helped an old man on the street and their act of kindness caught attention after it was shared on Facebook. Stock Snap/Pixabay

Four Idaho teenagers were driving to a basketball court when they saw an elderly man struggling with his walker. He fell down and the teenagers immediately stopped, picked him up, and walked him home. Their act of kindness went viral on Facebook.

Best friends, Caldwell teenagers Victor Ornelas, Isaac Hernandez, Diego Ramirez, Devan Ornelas, and Josh Sorg always hang out together and were on their way to play basketball when the incident happened a few weeks ago.

Hernandez stepped on his brakes when he saw the man, Jose Gomez, falling.

“We parked and we all ran out. We picked him up and we asked if he was okay, he said he was fine," Hernandez told KTVB. “So we just kept walking with him. We said we were going to walk him all the way to his house. We helped him inside, and his knee was bleeding. So, we grabbed napkins put alcohol on it and cleaned him up.”

Someone was watching this good deed from the other side of the street and captured it on camera and shared it on Facebook.

“Crazy how it blew up. We didn’t do it for the attention, we just did it out of the kindness of our hearts. It’s just the right thing to do,” Hernandez said.

The Cadwell community took notice of the boys’ act of kindness. “I actually spoke to Erica. She was in front of the boys and seen what they did. So she made a U-turn as the boys did. But she said the boys beat her to it and already were assisting him by the time she parked. So she started taking pictures. Why? Because she is homegrown and knows that Caldwell has a bad rap. So she decided to praise them!” Tery Gomez, a Caldwell native commented on the Facebook post.

The community gave credit to parents for raising the boys with good values! “That is awesome, thank you to the boys for helping this gentleman in his time of need. Giving respect to the older generation. Parents you have raised them right. Glad they are being recognized,” Veda Funk commented to the post.

The post was noticed by Kathy Plaisance, the owner of The Sweet Spot Bakery in Caldwell and she shared it on her business page and invited the boys for some of her baking.

“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. They are hometown heroes for Caldwell,” Plaisance told KTVB.

Teri Gomez tracked the boys down and collected gifts and certificates from local businesses to thank the boys. The four heroes were invited for lunches and given free haircuts.

Gomez said people generally have a negative impression about Caldwell and this act of kindness was an opportunity to change it.

“We have some great things happening in Caldwell. So everyone wanted to show some love to the boys,” Gomez said.

The teenagers are overwhelmed with the love and gifts showered on them and have become the old man’s friend for life. The boys remind the old man of his own teenage.

“He likes that we go and check up on him, and talk to him, ask him how his day was,” Hernandez said.

He said that it feels good to help other people. “I think it makes us all feel good because we are out here helping other people... and we don’t expect anything in return,” he said.