BROOKLYN, Ohio — A pair of pint-sized brothers in Brooklyn are making a big impact on their community.
Gideon and Josiah Trank, ages eight and seven, have raised hundreds of dollars for first responders with their front yard lemonade stand.
Friday, they rented the Cocky’s Bagels food truck for the Brooklyn police and fire departments with their earnings. The truck parked outside of the police station between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and served up bagel sandwiches and other treats with the brothers behind the counter taking orders.
“We love our heroes,” Gideon said. “We're doing this because they're probably hungry.”
That love for first responders was instilled in them by their parents, Machelle and Avery Trank.
“Me and my wife really kind of instill in them to support our first responders because whether you like them or not they're the first on scene, and they're there for our community to help us for whatever reason that you're dealing with,” said Avery Trank, the boys’ father.
Over the years the boys have shown that love with their lemonade stand. Last year, the boys raised more than $700 for the families of fallen Cleveland Police Detective James Skernivitz and Officer Nick Sabo.
“They want to help raise money for families and contribute as much as they can,” Trank said.
A few weeks ago, they came up with the idea to rent a food truck for their local first responders in Brooklyn.
So the Tranks called Natalie Bata, the co-owner of Cocky’s Bagels in North Olmsted and asked how much they’d need to raise to make it happen.
“So obviously, my heart was overfilled with joy and I'm like absolutely,” Bata said. “Raise $300, and we'll cover the rest.”
Bata said the Cocky’s food truck normally costs between $800 and $1,000 to rent for events, but she was touched by Gideon and Josiah’s selflessness and kindness, so she wanted to help out too.
“To have young kids understand the beauty of service and giving back to your community, and then also understand what these police officers and firefighters are doing everyday and that's risking their lives and giving back to their community themselves,” Bata said. “So the fact that they understand how that form of service is also important is just -- for an eight-year-old to feel like that and feel like they want to give back to the community like that and actually put work into doing that is pretty awesome.”
The boys raised $340, and Friday evening, they helped the Cocky’s team serve the people who always serve the community.
“It really makes you feel good,” Sergeant Paul Stein with the Brooklyn Police Department said. “Machelle and Avery have been super supportive with them, and they've taught them what it's like to respect adults and police officers and what's important in life, and to see that in a young person it's just incredible.”
Trank said seeing his sons come up with fundraising ideas for first responders is humbling.
“We need to support our local first responders because they go through a lot, they really do and we don't see what's behind the curtain,” Trank said. “So I urge anybody out there to support them, just wave at them, you know, say hi to them and ask them how their day is.”
Bata said slots to rent the Cocky’s Bagels food truck for the summer are filling up fast. Anyone interested should email cockysbagels@gmail.com or call 440-454-0675.
Gideon and Josiah plan to open their lemonade stand again sometime this summer.
RELATED STORY: 2 young boys selling snacks to raise money for families of fallen Cleveland police officers
Jade Jarvis is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
