BRADENTON — This will be a special Christmas for a single mother and her three children, thanks in part to the firefighters and staff at the city of Bradenton Fire Station No. 1.
This time last year, Dominique Brewer and her children, Robert, 14, Pinky, 5, and 18-month-old Kyra were living at the Salvation Army.
Now Brewer has a new job, an apartment for her family and with the help of the crew at the fire station, gifts for her children under the tree.
“It’s been a rough year,” said the petite but determined mother Wednesday after her children were surprised at Station 1 with new bikes, clothes, stuffed animals and gift certificates.
“But it’s only going to get better.”
Fire Chief Mark Souders, the firefighters on duty Christmas Eve and the department’s program administrator, Rebecca Pilsbury, were just as excited as the three children unwrapped their gifts and snacked on cookies and milk in the station’s lobby on Ninth Avenue West.
Brewer, who was born in Bradenton but moved when she was 2 years old and raised in Miami, found herself without a home last year after a relationship ended.
She decided to bring her three children back to Bradenton where her father and brother, whom she has never met, live.
“They’ve been supportive,” Brewer said, “but I don’t want to be burden on them.”
Throughout the year, she traveled back and forth to Miami, living at the Salvation Army at times.
She eventually found an apartment on Cortez Road and just this Monday started working at Jobs Etc.
“It’s going to be brighter year,” Brewer said, as she beamed with joy in front of the brightly decorated Christmas tree. “It’s already brighter.”
The fire department got involved with the Brewer family when a man, who only wants to be known as “Tony,” drove up to Station 1 on Dec. 18.
Tony asked two firefighters, who had just gotten back from a call and were outside the fire engine bay doors, if they could help him find a little girl for the brand-new pink bicycle he bought.
He explained that every year he plays “Secret Santa” and finds a young child who wants a bike.
But this year Tony found out he had cancer. Because he has been undergoing treatment, he didn’t have the time or energy to locate a deserving child, so he thought the firefighters might know someone. The two firefighters knew who could help — Pilsbury, program administrator for the fire department.
Pilsbury got on the phone to the Salvation Army and asked if they knew of a little girl who could use a pink bicycle.
“Jonelle at the Salvation Army said she knew just the little girl,” Pilsbury said. “She said her name was Pinky.”
When she got the information on Pinky and her family, Pilsbury decided she couldn’t just give a bike to Pinky.
“I put out an e-mail and within days we raised $200 and another bike for Robert and clothes for Kyra,” she said.
One of the firefighters to answer the call was Engineer Brian Knuckles, who donated his 21-inch metallic blue bicycle for Robert and a box of clothes his 21-month old daughter, Briley, outgrew.
He and a couple other firefighters took the bicycle to Ringling Bicycles on Cortez Road to be tuned up. With new tires and detailing, it shined as brand new as Robert took it for a spin around the station’s parking lot.
“I never expected anything like this,” said the Sugg Middle School sixth-grader. “This is going to be a real special Christmas — the best I’ve ever had.”
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