South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Atlantic High student gives back as family moves on from house fire
Chrys Diaz will never forget the feeling of sheer panic and fear as the 13-year-old quickly left a youth football game in Boynton Beach after hearing that his Lantana home was going up in flames.
An International Baccalaureate student at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, the now 15-year-old Diaz vividly recalls arriving back at the still-smoldering structure with all eight family members safely outside but in various states of physical and emotional condition.
Racing into the front yard, Diaz focused on his shaken 1-year-old brother Sean.
“Sean was sweating and covered in soot and ash, and I remember just running up and holding him,” Diaz said. “Seeing my baby brother like that had a very big impact on me.”
As time went on and the family relocated several times before settling into their current rental home in Lantana, Diaz never lost sight of the outpouring of community support that continued for months after the blaze.
Starting in the kitchen, the fire expanded into other rooms and caused all of their belongings to be destroyed. But help was coming in a big way.
“The love and kindness shown to us from so many people after the fire ... it was such a great feeling,” said Diaz, who explained how the family went through a tough time for the next several months. “We were given so much, and I wanted to give back.”
As things slowly got back to normal, Diaz remained mindful of that thoughtfulness and decided to do something to return the generosity.
This past summer, while confined indoors like everyone else during the COVID-19 pandemic, Diaz taught himself carpentry skills. With the assistance of his stepfather Ryan Payton, Diaz built a small dining room table and two stools.
“My family was helped, and I wanted to help another family,” said Diaz, who had the table finished in a matter of weeks. “That’s when the idea for the table came because that’s so important to a family setting.”
After completing his project, Diaz worked with an assistant to the principal at Atlantic High School to have the table and stools picked up by the Boca Raton-based Sweet Dream Makers charitable organization.
Sweet Dream Makers provides beds and gently used furniture to families in their greatest time of need, and now Diaz’s donation is helping just such a family.
“The parents and children in that family now have a piece of furniture where they can have meals and do homework,” said Suzanne Broad, executive director of Sweet Dream Makers. “Chrys knows what it’s like to have something so essential and that’s what makes what he did so amazing.”
Broad, whose organization has helped over 3,000 families since 2017 and is continually collecting donations of beds and other furniture in its warehouse in Delray Beach, is no stranger to seeing young people display similar acts of kindness after they have faced extremely traumatic situations.
“I have found that (children and young adults) don’t forget when somebody does something kind for them, and they want to do something kind in return,” Broad said.
While Sweet Dream Makers has received many such gifts from impacted youth, Diaz’s choice to not only donate a dinner table and stools but also build them himself really stood out to Broad.
“What I love about what Chrys did ... was that it was a hands-on project,” she said. “The fact that he made up his mind to build a dining room table, which is so emblematic of family and togetherness, and give it to us to help another family was very, very touching.”
While serving primarily those in Palm Beach County, Broad noted that there have been inroads into Broward County. In fact, she said her organization recently received what she referred to as a “fantastic and game-changing” donation of a new 16-foot box truck from Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet.
“We can pick up and drop furniture easily now as a result of this donation. It is a godsend for us,” she said.
Diaz, who is excelling in Atlantic High School’s IB program and boasts a 4.6 grade point average, said he is thrilled that his table and stools are bringing smiles to another family.
“I see the importance of family every day, so being able to build something that can be used by everyone in a family makes me feel very good,” he said.
Along with his stepfather, his mother Tara Payton and now 3-yearold brother Sean, Diaz is back to living comfortably with his 10-year-old sister Shayle, his 6-year-old sister Callie, his aunt and two cousins.
Tara Payton told the Sun Sentinel during an interview shortly after the fire that she was so grateful for all the community support, which included a large donation from the East Boynton Beach Wildcats youth football program. Diaz was a member of the 13-under division age group team at the time of the fire.
The Wildcats organization collected nearly $1,000, which went toward a week-long stay for the family at a Boynton Beach hotel and subsequently at an Airbnb in Lantana. The Wildcats parents and team mothers continued to visit the family with donated items that included clothes, gift baskets, household products, school uniforms and even a laptop.
To make a donation of beds or gently used furniture to needy families, visit sweetdreammakers.org.