APTOS — In January, Reese Selck helped save his brother from getting sucked into an underground pipe that was flushed with rushing water.
On June 16, the 15-year-old Watsonville resident will be among 11 community members who will be honored by the American Red Cross of the Central Coast during the 12th Annual Heroes Breakfast.
After consideration, a committee of local community leaders selected the 2017 Central Coast Hero Award recipients based on the degree to which their acts of heroism or compassion uphold the values of the American Red Cross and leave a lasting and positive impact on the residents of the Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
This year’s honorees are:
• Animal Rescue Hero: Rosanna Leighton – Seaside
• Disaster Services Hero: Sarah Blackstone – Monterey
• Education Hero: Willie Stokes – San Juan Bautista
• Environmental Heroes: Alex Weber and Jack Johnston – Carmel
• First Responder Hero: Kraig Evans – Santa Cruz
• Good Samaritan Hero – Adult: Michael Dremel – Seaside
• Good Samaritan Hero – Youth: Reese Selck – Watsonville
• International Services Hero: Jon Winston – Santa Cruz
• Medical Hero: Larry deGhetaldi – Soquel
• Service to the Armed Forces Hero: Lisa Tkoch-McFarland – Felton
Around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, emergency crews were dispatched to a report of a boy that had plunged into a drainage culvert off of Holohan Road near Laken Drive.
The boy, 11-year-old Charlie Selck, had been walking with his older brother Reese and their mother Ashley.
When Charlie tried to step closer to the water, he mistook a mass of floating debris for dry land and plunged into the water, Selck said.
Reese grabbed his brother’s arm just before he was sucked away by strong currents.
“I just knew I had to hang on to him as long as I could until help arrived,” he said during an interview in January.
When the mother tried to reach in and help, she slid into the currents as well.
The trio was soon joined by Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Brian Erbe. With both adults struggling to keep themselves, Reese and Charlie from being pulled under, Watsonville Fire Department firefighters John Stone and Ben Avis arrived on the scene.
The Heroes Breakfast will take place at Twin Lakes Church, 2701 Cabrillo College Drive in Aptos. Registration will open at 8 a.m., and the program will run from 8:30-10 a.m.
To purchase tickets to the breakfast, visit redcross.org/ccheroes2017.
