Deputies in Ottawa, Kansas recently went above and beyond to give a hardworking mother the Christmas gift of a lifetime after getting multiple calls about her walking alongside the highway in the freezing cold.

Christine Wheeler had been making a grueling twelve mile journey on foot to and from work just to feed her children. When deputies with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office heard about this, they knew they had to do something. Last week, they stepped up to surprise Christine with a free van that also has insurance and taxes paid for a full year!

“Over the last two weeks the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has received several calls for service regarding a woman walking on 59 Highway between Ottawa and Princeton at around 7:00AM,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a viral Facebook post. “Each time Deputies responded they encountered a 24-year-old Princeton woman walking and would give her a ride to work so she would not have to walk on the cold highway.”

“Throughout these contacts with her, the Sheriff’s Office learned this woman walked to work at Love’s truck stop six miles (and then six miles back home) to support her two small children,” the department added. “The woman made several comments about how she had to walk so she could feed her children and was very driven and motivated to take care of her family any way she could.”

Finally, the deputies met up with one another to try and figure out the best way they could help Christine. That’s when they decided to go about getting her a vehicle.

“After only a few days, through generous citizens and businesses and the use of our ‘No Shave November’ funds we were able to donate a van, two new car seats, a price chopper gift card, the registration for the van and the first year of car insurance along with $200. On December 15, 2020, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office along with members of the community in partnership with Love’s Truck Stop we were able to surprise this woman with all of these items in hopes for making a better Christmas for her and her small children.”

The sheriff’s office even threw in winter coats, food, holiday gifts, and two car seats installed for her twin boys. Christine could not believe her eyes when she saw what they had done for her!

“I want to say, ‘Thank you guys so much.’ This means the world to me,” she told the deputies.

“I can finally like take my kids to the park. I can go shopping, get food,” Christine later told KMBC. “I was in tears. I was shocked. I was like, ‘What?'”

Deputy Evan Macklin is hoping that others will see this story and pay it forward as well.

“When you get the opportunity to do something good and help somebody out and make you feel good, you should take full advantage of it,” he said.