the fox Carolina surprise Squad is back tonight and has a special mission for the month to help a Greenville County deputy and his family get back on their feet after they lost everything in a house fire yeah and this time you will have a chance to help Deputy Seymour and his family as well at the end of the story make sure you have your cell phone camera ready so that you can scan this QR code we'll have for you but for now Tori has the story on the night of January 6th 2024 Deputy Joshua Seymo
ur had just finished his chef at the Greenville County Sheriff's Office and returned home his wife Kylie and daughter Lucy were away that night helping a family member with not having to get a 5-year-old ready for bed that evening I took the opportunity to actually get some some good sleep Josh headed to bed it was probably about 8:30 9:00 um the smoke alarm started going off he went to investigate what he thought was a dead battery I got up walked out into our living room and that's when I saw
the whole corner where our Christmas tree was was just engulfed jumping into action Josh rescued the family dog and cat grabbed his wife's car keys and ran outside I ran to the neighbor's house and had them call 911 in a matter of minutes the Seymour's entire home was burning I tried to go back to the house at that point by that time there was just so much black smoke rolling out that I I couldn't even get back in to get anything else out so Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis was there that
night along with the dozens of other law enforcement officers who came to Josh's Aid as you begin to sift through the pieces and and it really starts to hit home that they didn't just lose a few things they lost at all the most devastating loss of all Lucy's room just everything was gone like all her little crafts and like all the things that we had done together and all her things that like I knew were her favorite and like they were sitting out like exactly where she left him a room full of me
mories and comfort gone Sheriff Lewis came up to me that night and uh basically told me that you know he's like don't worry about her toys we're going to replace all of them within days the Greenville County Sheriff's Department pulled together to help one of their own we have not experienced like that kind of love for a family and it's it was never about us I'm sorry Josh's partner Deputy Ryan Keel and his wife Tiffany also put together a GoFundMe knowing their friend's future was uncertain the
response amazed them it was incredible to see how many people from the Sheriff's Office communities friends of Sheriff's Office people who had no relation to anything just were F heard about it and wanted to give something this is mindboggling to see everything that's happened in such a quick time having to start over has not only taken a financial tool but a mental and emotional tool as well local nonprofits Upstate Warrior solution works with First Responders and knew about the Seymour family
's ordeal their team tipped off the surprise Squat and with their help and Deputy kills we got to work with Arrangements that would help bring the family some smiles and some relief so we're not just here for an interview today we're actually part of the fox Carolina surprise Squad we learned the seymor were huge Swamp Rabbit hockey fans making games a regular part of their family outings we have Mr stomper coming out our friend that want to [Applause] come so I'm Mark benetti I'm the broadcaste
r with the Greenville swamp rabbits and I understand that things haven't been very easy the last couple of months understand you guys are Big Swamp rabbits fans and I also know that you lost some jerseys too so we are replenishing your jerseys we obviously have hooked you up with some great merchandise and uh on behalf of the Greenville swamp rabbits we know that you're season ticket holders and we're going to take care of your season tickets for all of next season thank amazing what do you what
do you think is stoer when you have the opportunity to do something like that and provide just a little bit of joy to somebody who provides selfless service to a community it always stands out to us you were mentioning your story impacting so many of us in our community and we have another partner um who wanted to come in and show support hi see more family hi I'm Michelle Siver with United Community and we heard your story and wow we just want to help in whatever way we can so we hope that thi
s check for $5,500 will help and go towards um the rebuilding and just um everything that you you need to accomplish so thank you so much for what you do for our community and we are thrilled to give back to you a little bit than you You' ever seen when we heard the story about the Seymour family and all that they had been through we couldn't wait to be a part of the surprise Squad to watch our community just rally around the Seymour family has been so personally impacting after the swamp rabbit
s and United community's visit we still had one more reveal for the family a table full of donations from local businesses a family photo session donated by Amy Randall photography to help them start building new memories a year-long family member ship donated by the Children's Museum of the upstate and just for Lucy a special visit to the local Build-A-Bear Workshop donated by the store it's crazy to think that there is this many people that would because of my you know position helping the com
munity and stuff like that would come together to help me and life oh my gosh what an incredible family they were so surprised oh my goodness just the little one when you saw the mascot come in and her draw just drops and she's so excited she was pumped she was pump Lucy was loving it she really loved they had one of those squishy um little stuffed animals too on that table that's she went for that right away and then the mermaid Barbie I mean to know what this family has gone through that fire
just a couple months ago and to lose everything when he said he ran out of the house just with the shorts on and that was all all well and you know it devastates them that their little girl lost so much so I'm sure to like see her get some things back do the build to bear that's why I got a little choked up CU I was like that's that's really sweet and the fact she gets go to the children's museum anytime she wants for the next year so awesome so I bet that would meant a lot to be part of that an
d and you're right the parents were really worried about their daughter and that's the biggest thing that was really our takeaway we all got a little bit emotional about that so just incredible to see the community come together of course for that family with the Sheriff's Office and now we did mention at the top of the story that there would be a QR code um a chance for you at home to help the sey more family so here we have it right here get those phones out get the camera out uh the GoFundMe
that Deputy Keel and his wife started it is still live this is the link to that so again scan that code make a donation directly to Josh Kylie and their daughter Lucy uh it's going to be a long road for them to get back on their feet just with everything that they're going through right now now but of course every bit helps and we are so thankful to be part of the surprise Squad with that family you can find more at Fox carolina.com and we do want to take a second to thank our sponsor United Com
munity for making our surprise Squad donation possible and to our other Community Partners tonight who joined us out there we had the Greenville swamp rabbits Amy Randall photography the Children's Museum of the upstate and Build The Bear Workshop at the Haywood Mall
Comments