GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Three Gaston County EMS employees spent their own time volunteering to help two kids with special needs go trick-or-treating on Halloween night.
Gaston County EMS Lieutenant, Lanny Bivens, said he and his team were looking for some positive ways to engage with the community.
"I ran across another service in another state that did something similar," Lt. Bivens said.
So Lt. Bivens and his team talked with an employee who runs a special needs daycare and got the names of two boys in the area.
"The mother said it's difficult for them to go trick-or-treating," Lt. Bivens said. "Usually her sons are looked over."
Lt. Bivens and his crew, consisting of Hannah Orr and Ron Huggins, drove their ambulance to the boys' home and picked them up. The group then drove to Riverwood Plantation and parked the ambulance at the front entrance.
"Evan is wheelchair-bound so we took him around on a stretcher," Lt. Bivens said. "His brother is non-verbal and walked around with us."
Lt. Bivens said it was special to see how the community really embraced the brothers with EMS by their side.
"It was just wonderful. We got as much out of it as they did," Lt. Bivens said. "Just to serve and take time to go out. And not just to 911 calls but doing something fun and creative."