By FireRescue1 Staff
AURORA, Colo. — A firefighter gave a family who lost everything in a fire a bit of holiday cheer by donating Christmas presents to them.
CBS Denver reported that when firefighter Paul Shoemaker heard that the Hughes family lost their home in a fire and were left with nothing, he decided to help out by collecting Christmas gift donations for them from the community.
“Being able to help those kids put a smile on their face, that makes me the most happy,” Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker said the fire that destroyed their home was one of the worst he’s seen in his career.
“There’s nothing. Nothing left,” he said.
Shoemaker collects donations and presents for at least one family affected by fire each year.
“With my job I deal with a lot of things that are never necessarily good. So, you go an entire year seeing bad thing after bad thing. It’s why I started doing this,” Shoemaker said. “It’s pretty easy to do because so many people are willing to help.”
The family said the kindness shown to them has given them hope.
“The outpouring from the community has just outweighed the tragedy by far,” Marie Hughes said.
A GoFundMe has also been set up for the family to help them get back on their feet.