When the city of Baltimore was unexpectedly hit by a hurricane and flash floods, rescue workers worked around the clock to save lives. Harvey Nelson was on duty when he stumbled upon abandoned twins and saved their lives. Years later, they repaid him in a very special way.
Harvey Nelson was working as a firefighter, a job he very much loved and was dedicated to. The selfless work he often did was not necessarily acknowledged or appreciated, but that did not stop him from always doing the best job he could and rendering excellent service to the community.
What started out as just another ordinary day soon turned into a nightmare when the wind unexpectedly picked up to gale force strength. Soon after, the rain started pouring down, and streets turned into rivers.
This was no passing storm; the strong winds and rolling thunder predicted nothing good. People living in the lowest areas were hit first by the brunt of this disaster. What the residents were about to face was so unexpected that few people were prepared for the loss of property, belongings, and lives that followed.
Rescue teams were dispatched all over the city. People were trapped in their homes with no means to brace the flooding waters. The roads were already submerged, and cars were floating by.
But getting people out of harm’s way was a priority. Any rescue worker is trained to do whatever it takes to make a difference. Harvey knew that he would need to put his life in danger to save those of others.
There was no space for fear or hesitation; there were too many people that needed to be helped to safety. Without proper assistance, they would surely drown.
What was supposed to be an 8-hour shift turned into a 20-hour day. Harvey was exhausted, but he kept on going and brought at least 50 individuals to safety. His strong body was taking a beating as he had to drag himself through the water, often carrying the weaker people in his arms. Fortunately, a rescue shelter was identified nearby where the cold and shivering people could get some blankets and a meal to eat. Medical staff was dispatched to deal with hypothermia, shock, and various types of physical injuries.
When the coordination team was sure that the area was completely evacuated, the members of the rescue team were asked to assemble at the shelter. Harvey was making his way under a storm bridge when he heard some kind of noise.
Thinking that it was an animal stuck there, he decided to investigate. What he found there almost drove him to tears. It might have been that the emotional distress of the day contributed to his state of mind, but Harvey had never in his life felt so completely overwhelmed by a situation.
Sitting huddled together, he saw a boy and a girl shiver, covering from the cold. They were completely drenched and covered in mud, holding on to each other for dear life. He guessed that they were brother and sister who somehow got separated from their parents.
He was very glad that he had followed his instincts and found these little ones. Floodwaters were steadily rising in the area, and if they had stayed there the night, they would surely drown.
Harvey carried the two five-year-olds for a large percentage of the time, even though he was exhausted himself. In order to distract them from the gushing waters, he started asking them questions. He was trying to find out what their names were and where their parents were. The little girl was Sally, and her brother was Ricky. They were the most adorable blonde twins with piercing blue eyes.
They were waiting for their parents to come home after work; their caretaker had run off the moment that the thunder and lightning became frightening. The two of them had been very scared to be alone at home.
They had waited for a while, but then decided that they would try and get to the shop on the corner to find an adult to help. When they had gotten there, they had found no one inside, so the two of them had just continued walking. They had tried in vain to get to a place where there was no water.
Harvey was able to find out that their parents’ names were Rose and Sam Brown. Unfortunately, they had no idea of their home address; they did not go to school yet, therefore they could only try to describe some features of their house. After this devastating storm, it was unlikely that the house was still standing or would be recognizable at all. The twins could also tell Harvey that they had no other family in the city.
When Harvey and the kids arrived at the shelter, there was hardly any space for another person. People were frantically running around, and the atmosphere was filled with chaos and hysteria.
Harvey had such compassion for the twins that he felt it would be more beneficial for them if he took them home with him, even if it was only for the night. He registered their names and all the information he had on the children at the shelter and left his contact details in case the parents came to look for them.
Then he took them home. While they were splashing around in the bath, he quickly washed and dried their clothes and made a hearty meal. That evening, they all slept together in the living room, as he could sense that the children had gone through tremendous trauma that day and couldn’t bear any more loneliness.
The impact of the disaster was so far-reaching that the shelter had to continue to house families for months to come. Social services were doing their best to reunite families and place children in foster care, as many kids had been left without parents due to the hurricane.
What was supposed to be a temporary placement while locating their parents became a foster situation, as Rose and Sam Brown were nowhere to be found. Harvey grew very fond of Sally and Ricky; the court appointed him as their legal guardian, and the next logical step for him was to start adoption procedures. Harvey knew that he would never abandon these twins after such an ordeal and even losing their parents.
Wanting to properly look after them, Harvey relocated to a new town where his family lived. He needed some support to raise the kids and continue to work all the time. The authorities knew where to locate the kids in case any family miraculously turned up.
After three years, Sally and Ricky were officially adopted by Harvey. Life was normal, and the twins were going to school. The community first treated the two kids as outsiders, but soon they started to refer to them as Harvey’s kids.
The phone call that Harvey always dreaded came unexpectedly. Rose and Sam Brown were found alive after both being dramatically injured during the storm. The parents had searched in vain for their children, and somehow in the aftermath of the disaster, some of the records had gotten lost. Rose and Sam had never given up hope, and now they were eager to be reunited with their children. With a heavy heart, Harvey knew he had to return the twins to their parents.
Fast forward 27 years into the future, Harvey still kept in contact with the family, but life had separated him from the kids he had called his own for three years. He had been sad to see them leave, but he was happy to know that they had found some sort of peace after that nightmare. Sally and Ricky had grown up to become extraordinary adults.
Sally had become a teacher and was now running various projects for less fortunate people. Ricky had become a lawyer and was dealing with all kinds of legal stuff. He also gave generous funding to his sister’s projects. They had been glad to be reunited with their parents but had never forgotten the hero who had
protected and taken them in at their most vulnerable. And they had found an unbelievable way to repay his kindness: the Harvey Nelson Shelter for the Poor was one of the many ways the twins honored the man who had saved their lives.
At the side of the building was a huge blow-up of the picture that was taken the night Harvey walked into the shelter with the twins in each arm. Both Ricky and Sally had become parents over the years and had named their boys Harvey in honor of the selfless man who had sacrificed much to give them the best future possible in the darkest time. Harvey had been a source of light for them, and they were now ready to pay that kindness forward.
