The firefighters served as waiters for two hours over the course of three evenings at Denny's in Kingman to benefit Mentally Ill Kids In Distress. The firefighters donated all of their tips and Denny's donated 10 percent of each bill to the organization, which started out in 1987 as a support group and has since evolved to provide a number of services to families of children with special needs.
Golden Valley resident Nancy Osborn serves as a local liaison for the group. Everyone who works for the organization has either a child or grandchild with special needs.
"We have empathy," she said. "We've been there."
MIKID serves a number of families around the state, including 17 in Golden Valley and Kingman. They also provide support groups for both communities.
Nearly all of the department's 20-some firefighters as well as Chief Paul Hewitt and Assistant Chief Tom O'Donohue served as waiters while being shadowed by Denny's employees. O'Donohue said the crew at Denny's was fantastic to work with, but he's not quitting his day job.
"We discovered we would much rather run into a burning building than wait tables," he joked.
