While the family was asleep, an early morning fire broke out in the kitchen of a Riverdale, Illinois home. 11 year old Adonis woke his mother, carried a young girl to safety, and went back into the building to make sure his aunt got out, too. "I ran back in to get my Auntie Karen, and then she came out. And that's when I ran back in and I woke my brother up, and my brother went upstairs and got my grandma," Adonis said.
"God woke me up and I got everybody out. If he didn't wake me up, we were gonna be dead," Adonis continued. "At my school, the fireman, he told us, 'Don't grab anything. Get yourself and everybody else out.'"
"It's unbelievable that he was so calm and levelheaded at the time," said grandmother Karen Bell.
"That young man was brave, and he did something that most people probably would have not done, and that touched my heart," said Riverdale Mayor Deyon Dean.
Adonis said he wasn't scared. "Because I know that God was on my side and I'm not going to get hurt," he said.
For Adonis' efforts, the Bells are being rewarded with a new three-bedroom home, purchased by Riverdale for $1 with Housing and Urban Development funds. And $45,000 in federal funds are going to be administered through Cook County to help refurbish the home. The whole process should take about 45 days.