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Pat Dugan: Who built a cute shelter to keep an 8-year-old autistic boy warm while he waits for his school bus.
In the wintertime, Lincoln, Nebraska can become icy cold, especially when the snows hit and the winds blow.
A.C. Flodman, a 2nd-grade autistic boy had to brave these conditions while awaiting his school bus.
But now, thanks to Pat, his next-door neighbor, instead of a bus bench, there is a wooden yellow bus with two seats and a steering wheel to keep A.C. comfortable while he waits.
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Pat built it from an ice fishing hut he was buying. When he told the seller what he was going to do with it, the man made it a gift.
After hauling the hut home, Pat structured a frame, eliminated the fishing holes, and added jump seats and a steering wheel from an old Mazda he found in a salvage yard.
He added plywood, painted the bus bright-yellow and made a window, while angling the pretend bus so the little boy could see the real bus arrive.
Pat also painted black tires and white headlights as lovely finishing touches.
For most of his life, A. C. has not been very verbal. But now he and his bus builder Pat converse.
“He’s really blossomed,” Pat’s wife Michaela told the Lincoln Journal Star. “He talks and Pat gets really into it whether he understands him or not.”
This is the wonderful difference a little kindness can make.
Editor's Note:
To learn more, click here. Thank you to columnist Cindy Lange-Kubick and to KindSpring.org for this heartwarming story.
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