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    A double gift: A story of paying it forward, two times

    A double gift: A story of paying it forward, two times

    Photo By Delonte Harrod | From left, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Firefighters Jon Nordstrom, Capt. Roger...... read more read more

    JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, UNITED STATES

    05.12.2016

    Story by Delonte Harrod 

    Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

    “It was the best day of my life,” said Fernando Castellon, cashier at the Express, the base’s only convenience store, on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. “I am very grateful for [my new] bike.”

    A month ago, Castellon lost his only means of transportation—his bike. Castellon is a native of Bolivia and came to the United States 30 years ago. He has been working at JBM-HH for well over a decade. He lives about 15 blocks from the base and often rode his old bike to work until one day something happened: an act of kindness following an accident.

    As usual, Castellon was riding his bike to work when the bolts holding the front wheel loosened and came off.

    “I fell down and hit my face on the ground,” he recalled. “My face had scratches.”

    Though he didn’t suffer any severe damages to his body or his face, his bike was unrepairable.

    “The bike was old,” he said. “Something was wrong with the wheels. I [frequently] had to patch the tires. And I had to add oil to the chain every day.”

    People began to notice that Castellon was walking to work. Several JBM-HH firefighters noticed as well since Castellon travels past the base fire station daily to get to work.

    Capt. Roger Rearden, JBM-HH firefighter, while on his first shift one night, saw Castellon walking from the Fort Myer Officer’s Club. Rearden said he asked, “Why are you walking?”

    Castellon doesn’t speak English well and, according to Rearden, he replied with words he could not understand. The next morning, Reardon said he was standing in front of the fire station and saw Castellon walking again.

    “I saw him walking,” Rearden described. “I said to him, ‘you need to get a bike.’ He replied, ‘yea, yea’ and kept walking.”

    Rearden said that he thought to himself: “You know what? This guy has two jobs, walks to work, and he probably sends money back to his family.”

    “We need to find him a bike,” he concluded.

    “So that is what we did,” Rearden explained.

    Fire Fighters Scott Sullivan, Jon Nordstrom, Chris D’Agostino and Rearden set out to find a bike for Castellon.

    “The problem with Arlington is that everything is so expensive,” said Rearden. “We went to a couple of different bike shops.”

    Not finding a reasonable price for a bike, they headed to a local consignment shop in Arlington.

    Rearden and his fellow firefighters were planning to pay for a bike to donate to Castellon, that is, until someone generously disrupted their plan.

    As Rearden was waiting in line about to purchase the bike another told him that he didn’t want him to pay for the bike – because he wanted to.

    “The ironic thing is…when I was in line getting ready to buy the bike, a person behind us said, ‘I got it,’” Rearden recalled. “I said, ‘What do you mean you got it?’ He said, ‘I am buying the bike.’ I said, ‘no, no we appreciate it. Thank you very much.’ He said, ‘I understand that you guys are helping somebody, so I am helping you.’ He bought the bike for Castellon, so we didn’t even have to buy it.”

    Rearden thinks the unknown man may have overheard the firefighters’ retelling of Castellon’s story and became inspired to pay it forward by purchasing the bike for them.

    “The man purchasing the bike for us made the whole situation better,” said Rearden.

    Rearden said they had to make some minor adjustments to the bike before taking it to Castellon, who, at that point was still walking to work. Rearden said Sullivan and Nordstrom had to reposition the handle bars because they were backwards, wash off the bike and add some air to the tires.

    They then headed to Fernando’s job. To surprise him, they went to the back of the store where workers usually stock products.

    They asked the manager of the store to get Castellon, according to Rearden.

    “[Castellon] kind of walked in and looked [confused], like ‘what is going on here?’” said Rearden. “We were like, ‘we got you a bike.’ He was all excited.”

    “It was a total surprise; I was like wow,” said Castellon. “These are some very nice guys.”

    Castellon added that his new bike gets him to work faster than his old bike.

    Rearden said the fire department is family, but that family extends into the JBM-HH community and those outside of it.

    “So when something happens to someone like that, we take care of them like they we’re family,” Rearden said.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.12.2016
    Date Posted: 05.12.2016 14:42
    Story ID: 197947
    Location: JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US

    Web Views: 38
    Downloads: 0

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