LEXINGTON, Ky. — Joe Saunier, a school resource officer in Frankfort is restoring old toy fire trucks for children in need.

“When you get to see the children's faces. You know, it means a lot right there,” Saunier said.

For the past few years, Officer Saunier has been restoring old fire trucks for children who undergo difficult situations, with some of those fire trucks being over fifty years old. 

Joe Saunier works tirelessly to fix the toys (Spectrum News 1/Crystal Sicard)

“And I'll call them and ask how many families you got that just got totally wiped out and do they have kids or do you know of any. I'll get an email back in a day or so, and off I go. I hand-deliver them,” Saunier said.

Saunier says he’s always had a call to serve and understands just how hard life can be.

“Everything is at my expense, you know I don’t worry about it. Can't take it with you is what my wife says. For years we struggled with our son Ryan with cystic fibrosis. We were just flat broke, it seemed like we were living paycheck to paycheck, sometimes, beg, borrow and steal and you know I have a large family to help that,” Saunier said.

Saunier says after losing his son at the age of 20, he has tried to give back to others because he knows it's what Ryan would’ve wanted.

“There's another reason I do what I do is for Ryan and I see him as a school resource officer. I see him and I help him every day through other kids that are in similar situations,” Saunier said.

Joe Saunier says he likes giving back and does so in honor of his son who died from Cystic Fibrosis. (Spectrum News 1/Crystal Sicard)

Remembering Ryan and restoring the smile on the children’s faces is all the motivation he needs to continue his mission.

“It's just a joy to see them light up. I mean some of them just lit up. When one of the special needs guys jumped on me, I thought I was going to have to pry him off but I didn’t care, I didn’t mind, it was funny. He was just tickled to death, so I ended up giving him two,” Saunier said.