BOSTON, Mass. — A soldier’s family gets the vacation of a lifetime thanks to a nine-year-old boy. Brendan Haas got the idea to trade for a trip after hearing a similar story.
“We heard about the guy & how he traded a red paper clip up until he got a house and we wanted to do something,” said Brendan Haas.
Haas wanted to trade items for a Disney trip. He started with a toy soldier. From there, the trades grew bigger and better. The word got out nationally and he traded until he met his goal. He obtained tickets to Disney World including airfare, a stay at the Disney Villas and almost $900 in Disney gift certificates.
The family of a fallen soldier was chosen from a hat on Memorial Day weekend.
“People just posted that they had lost some family members in the war and we made some, put them in the raffle,” Haas said.
Timothy Steele was killed in August, 2011 in Afghanistan. He was 25-years-old. His family lives in the next town from Haas.
“It’s interesting and touching that it’s somebody so close to home,” said Brendan’s mom, Melissa. “We had people from Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, all over the United States.”
Steele left behind a wife and two-year-old daughter named Liberty Hope. The Haas family says they wanted to pass something on to the family of Lt. Steele that serves as a reminder of the nation’s gratitude.
“Tim was pretty special to us,” said Tim’s father, Jack Steele. “He knew what he wanted to do at a very young age.”
Now, the two families are connected by a single toy soldier. It was a Memorial Day neither family will likely forget.
