BLOOMINGDALE, Mich. — Our Spotlight Award series this month focuses on first responders.
A volunteer firefighter in Bloomingdale has made it her life, 24/7, and she got a very early start.
This month's FOX 17 Spotlight Award winner is Grace Krueger.
It's clear that Grace is in it for one thing: helping people. If a career was ever pre-determined however, her being a firefighter would be it.
"I'm a fifth generation firefighter," Grace explained. "Stemming from my great, great grandpa down to my great grandpa, dad, grandpa. So they were all firefighters and... my brother {is} on a neighboring department."
The career runs in the family. Grace's dad, Joel, retired after 15 years at the Otsego Fire Department. Grace's brother is also a firefighter.
Their careers are almost as stressful as being their mom, who has been around this kind of work her entire life.
"I know the risks," Grace's mom, Lauri, remarked. "I know that the training that these people do is outstanding and thorough. So I have to put the trust in their other firefighters to have their backs."
Grace is only 20, but has been at this for a while.
She started taking EMT courses and fire academy classes as a sophomore in high school.
Now just a couple years in, she's a leader in the department alongside her dog, Floria.
"This is 100% volunteer. She gets no reimbursement for anything," explained Chris Serdel, the Bloomingdale Fire Chief. "She does this out of the goodness of her heart for the community. There is not a lot of women in this profession and she does it."
She's one-of-a-kind in her department and a rarity in general.
"I absolutely love just being able to help out the community, and especially, I'm the only female on Bloomingdale," Grace added. "I'm the second female ever to be on Bloomingdale. And so, it's awesome for kids, younger girls especially, to be able to see me doing what I do. And kind of looking up to that. A lot of the school classes that we've had come in, there's been little girls that have gotten so excited to see me standing up there and have come and talked to me afterwards and say they want to be firefighters when they grow up, and it's just awesome."
It's for all these reasons Grace was nominated and selected as FOX 17's Pay It Forward Spotlight award recipient.
Every month, FOX 17 honors a different category in our Pay it Forward Spotlight series. Next month, we'll select a veteran.
If you know someone who makes giving back their life's work, nominate them here.