A group of lifeguards that carried a 95-year-old woman onto the beach every day for a week have gone viral after beachgoers snapped pics of them going above and beyond to ensure that the elderly woman enjoyed her holiday.
Lifeguards working in the Alabama city of Orange Beach spotted Indiana woman Kimberly Waterbury trying to assist her elderly mother in walking across the sand and getting closer to the ocean.
One of the guards then offered Ms Schneider a lift via his beach patrol vehicle, which she happily accepted. The guards then lifted her off the vehicle, carried her through the sea of beachgoers, and sat her on a comfortable deck chair at the waterfront.
After hearing that Ms Schneider and her daughter were on holiday for the week and planned to visit the beach whenever they could, the lifeguards passed on their office phone number and told the pair to call any time they wanted to go to the beach so that they could assist.
“In the past, when they’d gone to the beach, she couldn’t get to the beachfront. They had to sit by the pool deck,” Brett Lesinger, Beach Safety Division Chief in the City of Orange Beach, told Fox News.
“Being able to put her feet in the sand and seeing the waves crash on the shore, I think that made all the difference.”
Lifeguard Shane Martin arrived at Ms Schenieder’s hotel on four occasions and personally escorted her from the lobby all the way down to chairs that they had rented for her on the beach.
With their holiday drawing to a close, Ms Schneider and her daughter thanked the lifeguards for their kindness by stocking their fridge with food and snacks.
“We are forever indebted to the guys with Orange Beach Surf Rescue,” Ms Waterbury told reporters.
“They made my mother feel special. She was not made to feel like she was a burden on anybody.”
