The HEROES group for kids with disabilities threw a spaghetti dinner for both City of Warren police and fire crews — an opportunity for the kids to engage with police and firefighters while saying thank you at the same time.

A group of HEROES found a way to serve community heroes.

“HEROES” is a community support group for children with varying types of disabilities.

What started as one of the participants looking to learn how to make homemade noodles turned into a meal for City of Warren police and fire staff.

Mandie Englert, who coordinates the group, said the meal was a way to teach “social skills, life-skills empathy, kindness, as well as giving them the ability to interact with our community heroes.”

That set the stage for a spaghetti dinner.

“It was so delicious and our HEROES did an amazing job serving our community Heroes,” Nolan Flatt said “It was an exciting night and I have never seen all of the police officers in the same room before.”

The idea came up at a meeting back in November when the parents were discussing homemade noodles. A noodlemaker was volunteered and the idea grew from there. Englert said Applebees donated “a lot of the non food items” to make the event a reality.

“I am big on being kind, doing the right thing, and making people smile and being able to see the kids, and the police and fire department smile and be happy was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this,” Englert said. “I do want to do something for the Sheriff’s department so, yes, there will be more to come.”

HEROES is about three years old. Englert started the group when her son asked if he was going to be “normal.”

The group meets monthly – the fourth Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center. The topics are tailored to the needs of the families in the group.

“The community has been so supportive of HEROES, this is one small way that we can give back,” she said. “With times the way they are now, we have to keep it small, but there are big things in HEROES future.”