OUTER BANKS, N.C. — In early March, Vickie Kohler found herself in a position she never expected: saving a child.
"There was a little boy running down the road," said Kohler.
Kohler was driving with her husband along US-17 south near Central Elementary School when she saw a child running close to traffic on the busy road.
“All I could think of was getting him out of the road and getting him back to the side of the road to make sure that he was safe,” she says.
Kohler sprang into action, jumping out of the passenger side of the vehicle and running across the road to make sure the child did not venture into oncoming traffic.
“He was running down the road. There were cars coming and it was just instinct, just to save someone,” she says.
The boy had gotten out of his classroom at Central Elementary School when Kohler saw him. He’s okay, and Kohler says she’s thankful to have been in the right place at the right time.
“It's literally something that stays on my mind every day,” she says.
It’s on her mind every day because she’s always looking for ways to help people. Whether that’s on the side of the road or in hurricane-torn neighborhoods from Louisiana to Western North Carolina.
“We went down there, we fed people, we cooked for them, and we helped them clean up and get stuff together. We lived there for, I think, about a week with no power,” says Kohler.
She says the aftermath of Hurricane Helene was the worst they have ever seen.
“We took a whole load full of goods that that they needed. We took gasoline, we took diesel, we took food — all kinds of stuff that people would need,” she says. "My grandson and them would go on ATVs to houses that [couldn't access the road] and feed them."
Kohler and her family do this on their own dime and their own time, out of the goodness of their hearts.
Then, when the tornado hit her hometown of Perquimans County this month, she collected an entire trailer full of donations.
“[When I look at the trailer filled with donations] I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed, but it's donated for a purpose,” Kohler says.
Kohler is giving what’s leftover to the PINK Hotline, a thrift store in Kitty Hawk whose proceeds benefit survivors of domestic violence.
For her selfless heart, Vickie Kohler is News 3’s Everyday Hero. She was also awarded a $300 gift certificate from our partners at Southern Bank — finally getting the recognition she deserves but never expects.
Kohler is also hosting a community event this summer called the OBX Hillbilly Bigfoot Bash. It's happening October 24 to 26 at the Currituck County Rural Center. Click here for more information.
