Nine-year-old Alex Collins, of suburban Philadelphia, had always wanted to go hunting. And thanks to his elementary-school understanding of geography, a sheriff in South Carolina made his dream come true.
This heartwarming story begins when Alex saw a contest on the Chester County Facebook page offering a hunting trip. Chester County Sheriff Alex Underwood, or “Big A” as his friends and colleagues call him, has been a lifelong avid hunter and believes that taking kids hunting and fishing gets them interested in the outdoors and keeps them out of trouble, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer .
Alex and his mom, Leslie, filled out the application, and with minutes to spare, hand-delivered it to Chester County Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh. In his application, according to KSLA (Shreveport), Alex noted that he’s always wanted to do “boy stuff” like hunting , but living with a single mother with a heart condition, it’s not always possible.
“It’s just me and my Mom and she’s too sick to do stuff. She has a bad heart. I think you are really nice to do this. I hope you pick me to go.”
Unfortunately for Alex, he didn’t understand that the hunting trip was being offered by the sheriffs in Chester County, South Carolina, not Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he lived. He was devastated when he found out he’d submitted his hunting trip application to the wrong county.
Fortunately, the Pennsylvania sheriff and the South Carolina sheriff knew each other, having met at a sheriffs’ conference a few years earlier. The two became fast friends because of the different Chester Counties they serve, says Welsh. Colleagues nicknamed them “Twin Sheriffs.”
“I’m a woman. He’s a man. I’m short. He’s tall. I’m white and he’s black. I’m a Northerner. He’s a Southerner.”
“Big A” made a deal with his colleague in Pennsylvania: “If you can get him here, we’ll take him hunting.”
On Monday, the Pennsylvania sheriff took Alex — in a caravan of Chester County squad cars, all with their lights flashing — to the airport to get on a plane. The boy, who said he’d never get on an airplane, was handed over to airline officials to fly 600 miles to Charlotte. There, he was greeted by his new South Carolina friends, also with a fleet of patrol cars, and taken to a sporting goods store.
In South Carolina, “Little A,” as the local cops took to calling him, quickly became a local celebrity, said Big A. At the sporting goods store, the Pennsylvania lad was outfitted with top-of-the line camouflage and fishing gear. Some of the money was donated, some of it came out of Big A’s pocket. Local news crews kept stopping the boy for pictures.
“We’re going to have to sneak him away so we can go hunting.”
Later that day, Alex’s new friend took him into the woods for a three-day hunting and fishing trip that ends today. As of this post, they haven’t bagged a deer, but for Alex, the memories likely mean more than a trophy, says Welsh.
“It’s a wonderful story of something that started out as a mistake. But it’s going to end up being a dream come true for this beautiful little boy.”
Hopefully, if the Pennsylvania boy doesn’t bag a deer, his new South Carolina friends will take him hunting again next year.
[Image courtesy of: WITI ]
