After every Strawberry Festival comes to a close, the Fire Chiefs at the Thorndale Fire Company cook up a storm for their members as a sign of their appreciation for those who helped over the course of those five days that includes setting up for the event and taking it all down. This year, they were joined by a special guest.

In early February the Thorndale Volunteer Fire Company received a letter, but not just any letter, and not from just anyone. This letter was special. It was written by a girl named Lexi. Here’s her story from her Facebook page:
“When Lexi was 4 years old, we wanted to teach her the important elements of being a good person, love, compassion and understanding differences in everything and everyone. I saw a wonderful page on my friend Kim McCarty’s site and fell in love with a wonderful dog named Sgt. Sneezy. I knew showing her and reading her all the adventures of Sgt. Sneezy would teach her all about how being different was a gift, being different and original was the best way to be in life. She loved reading his posts and looking at his pictures so much.
In Lexi’s eyes, Sgt. Sneezy was a dog blessed with an upside down heart nose; he was so special to her, she started to think what would Sneezy think in every situation, it was amazing.
When Sneezy past, she begged everyday to save a dog like Sneezy, when people would talk about their pets, Lexi would tell the story of Sneezy and her heroes, so we decided after so much begging we would apply to adopt a puppy from Sasha’s Legacy.
After we found Lumpy on the site we applied and were given the OK, Lexi was jumping for joy, running around the house screaming we are getting Lumpy, unfortunately Lumpy passed away prior to getting here. Any other little girl would have stopped at that point, but Lexi wanted a dog from Afghanistan, she wanted to save a dog and help a friend.
Now we have Jasper, a gift from an amazing man, they are the best of friends :)
Now they are both on a mission. Lexi and Jasper have decided to thank every HERO they can. She is on a mission she calls "Thank You for Being A Hero." She has been signing cards and sending them all over the world, do you know someone who would love to have a card from this crazy DUO??? Drop her a private message and it will be sent out right away.”

A Facebook post from her page on 1/13 of this years said "So we have been working really hard on cards and have a lot to send out this weekend. I just got a new order today and with this order I will have signed 8,458 cards. So I am going for a new goal of 10,000 cards by the end of the year. Thanks right 10,000 heroes around the world we be thanked by me and Jasper. Keep those addresses coming. One day it will make it to every hero in the world and I can't wait to make it happen.”

On 1/16 she sent 800 cards. On 1/26 she sent out 900 cards and on 2/14 she sent out 500 more. All hand signed. Since then, hundreds more have gone out. As a small token or our appreciation of what she, with the help of her mom Karen have done, The company presented a custom picture collage of the apparatus from the Thorndale Fire Company that was created by Mark Walsh of IrishEyez Photography. Lexi was given a tour of Station 38, a grab bag of goodies and a quick ride on Engine 38 along with other special guests of the evening.

Currently Lexi and Jasper have requests for their cards to be sent to Kuwait and for them to be translated into French and sent to France.

Lexi, you are a very special person and your work means so much to those you touch. The world needs more people like you. Thank you very much from the crew at the Thorndale Volunteer Fire Company for what you do and for being our guest this past Wednesday night and keep up the great work! If you’re ever in the neighborhood please stop in. You are always welcome!

You can follow Lexi and Jasper on their Facebook page "Lexinator and Jasper - A Wish, A Love, A Dream Come True".