NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two NewsChannel5 viewers and business owners in Middle Tennessee have spent more than a decade and more than $40,000 helping the people they've seen on TV.
The couple, through the years, made a point to help out as many people as possible both through our stories and among the people they meet in Middle Tennessee.
They said it isn't about them. They chose to be anonymous for this story.
"Probably the May [2010] flood, that was the first time the news channel had come on and said there was people stuck in the building and that there was nobody there getting them and they needed boats," said one of them.
One of the areas hardest hit back then was the Pennington Bend neighborhood. The two jumped in their boat and began rescuing people.
"We pulled, by my [estimates], about 220 people from Pennington Bend," they said.
The business owners said they made a pact with the man upstairs.
"We said, if we're successful, we will pass that on," one of them said. "We live by that, daily. If you have the ability to give, please do it. Because there's so many people out there who need help."
In 2015, they donated a large sum of money in honor of Mickey Martin. He was a football player who was killed in an accident.
Through the years, the couple donated to countless GoFundMe pages that were featured on NewsChannel 5.
Then, in 2020, they helped with the Middle Tennessee tornadoes.
"Our crews helped clean up debris and trees just randomly," they said.
The next year it was Kentucky.
Then, days later, a Gallatin family needed help around Christmas.
"We went up there to meet her about a week or so later and I think we gave her $3,000," they said.
Then, there was the Rutherford County school resource officer who helped a grandmother and student when they were living out of a car.
The duo tallied up how much they've donated because of stories.
Over the last 12 years, they've spent $46,250 helping those they saw hurting on the news.
They have no plans to stop and now they want others to join them.
"If you see something on the news and you don't have a lot of money, you can volunteer time if you don't have the money. You can reach out. Just knowing people are reaching out sometimes is enough," they said.
