FORT WORTH, Texas — It was a story that touched a lot of people's hearts.
Fort Worth METRO, a mobile nonprofit that helps in some of the city's underserved neighborhoods, needed $30,000 for a new truck after the group's old truck broke down.
The truck is used to haul the trailer, which carries the donations the nonprofit hands out.
Fort Worth METRO provides clothes, shoes, school supplies and more to families in the Stop Six and Carter Park neighborhoods. After a months-long hiatus, they'll soon be back.
Brian Thompson was getting ready for work one morning in July when he saw the WFAA story about the group's need for a new truck.
"The thing that resonated the most with me was they had all these donations, pallets of food waiting to be picked up and distributed, and no way to distribute it," Thompson said.
Thompson told his bosses and co-workers at Veterans United Home Loans. The company's employee-funded foundation then reached out to Fort Worth METRO's Ruth Calzada.
"She said, 'We’re actually $8,500 short, we’ve had some donations fall through, sponsors back out,'" said Veterans United's Audrey Sharp.
It was a no-brainer, they said. The group wanted to help.
WFAA followed behind Friday as the foundation surprised Calzada with the money to cover the truck — and more.
"Veterans United Foundation would like to fill in the gap for the rest of the money, so we’d like to present you with a $10,000 check," said Billy Nations, a team lead of underwriting at the foundation. "We hope that gets you mobile again."
Calzada was shocked.
"Their reaction was priceless. They were so grateful and genuinely excited about this and blown away," Nations said.
A Sept. 9 event at Carter Park Elementary School was in jeopardy because of the broken-down truck. Now there's no doubt the event will be back on, Calzada told WFAA.
"Thank you seems so small but they're getting us back out there," Calzada said. "We’ll be able to impact and change lives again. We couldn’t do it without them."
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