SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. (WFTS) — Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally spent with the ones you love most.
But for so many first responders, it's just another day at work.
"It's got ups and downs; the job. That would be one of the downs. But good thing is, we get to spend it with our crew. It's like a second family. And you know, it's things to go away from the family that morning, but maybe celebrate it the next day, or do it early before we leave or even have them come in," said Safety Harbor firefighter Austin Weiler.
And for the Safety Harbor heroes like Weiler, there's a business community showing their thanks as well.
Gigglewaters and Daydreamers, two downtown restaurants, spent the day before Thanksgiving preparing and delivering meals to 101 community first responders.
"It's just so heartwarming to be able to help people out that that really take care of us, and you got to take care of the people that take care of the people," said Chris Wicks, the owner of Daydreamers.
"Coming together as two restaurants, especially after the last few months we've all had through the hurricanes, through everything we've been through, it feels really good to have the normalcy of just doing what we do every year, which is feeding the people who work on the holidays and don't get to spend it with their loved ones," Rachel Fine-Wilson, the owner of Gigglewaters added.
This is the fifth year the two businesses have partnered. Weiler remembers the first time he opened one of the Thanksgiving meals.
"It was a couple years ago. We did a long day. I think it was the day right before as well. We had been at it all day long. Sun had already gone down. Tired, hungry, and it was a pleasant surprise. Came inside, Gigglewaters had dropped off some food, and it was good pick me up at the end of the day," he recalled.
It takes more than just the two businesses to make the food giveaway happen.
"I want to commend the community volunteers. We had the President the Chamber here today and several other volunteers. So when you see that lineup, those are just other people that want to do well and give back to the community. And it's exciting to say, 'Okay, last year, we put these together in about 42 minutes. Let's see if we can beat that this year'. And we did. We're happy to say that," Wicks said.
It's also a family affair for Fine-Wilson. Her 10-year-old and 8-year-old children spent their morning helping make it all come to fruition.
"It's really good to help people at Thanksgiving," said Cash Wilson.
"It feels really good because a lot of paramedics and firefighters can't get out of work because they have too much saving to do, and it's nice to know that we can just feed them and let them know that they're doing really amazing," Billie Wilson added. "[My parents] are amazing. They're teaching me, like the value of kindness and how to food prep, which will probably be helpful in the future if I take over the business."
The widow of a Pinellas Park firefighter turned to Susan Solves It after she was cut off from the savings her husband left behind for her.
