CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- Chula Vista firefighters have been receiving 'thank you' meals from restaurants in the community for about a week now.
The idea sparked after a brush fire in east Chula Vista the first week of the year.
As a way to say thank you for containing the fire, local teacher, Lisa Yegin got an idea from her mother-in-law, to donate meals to the firefighters.
Yegin posted on a page called Eastlake Food To Go on Facebook. The page has over 19,000 members and almost immediately restaurants started volunteering to send meals for free.
The meals have been a welcome distraction as firefighters continue to work non-stop during this pandemic.
Darrell Roberts is the president for the Chula Vista Firefighters Union. Roberts says firefighters are working double what they're used to before the pandemic, often times showing up to the fire station and not knowing when they'll go back home to their families.
Since the start of COVID-19 more than a dozen firefighters in the department have tested positive for the virus.
Now, local teachers plan on sending firefighters thank you messages and artwork from their students. The teachers are also planning on working with the department to start a program called "Ask a Firefighter" where students will send in a question and a firefighter will answer it via video.
Yegin says despite not actively calling for donations, some are still pouring in from the community.
