TITUSVILLE, Pa. (EYT) – Former Titusville resident Linda Sanders was doing what comes naturally to her when she recently lent a big helping hand to a group of teenagers stranded in a bus in the sweltering heat along Interstate 95 in Boca Raton, Florida.

Sanders, 36, was shopping for a new pair of shoes on July 26 when she saw the bus. It was filled with 40 teens and six adults who are involved in Hallandale Beach’s Teen Program. They were returning from a trip to a waterpark.

Sanders headed for the nearest grocery store and bought four dozen bottles of water and five dozen popsicles.

She returned to the broken-down bus to deliver the treats to a thirsty group of teens, five chaperones, and their bus driver.

After speaking to one of the chaperones, Sanders learned that the group was probably going to be stuck for another hour; so, she Googled up the nearest pizza place on her phone and ordered a bunch of cheese pizzas from Little Caesar’s before hurrying off to pick them up.

When Linda returned, the new bus was pulling away.

“I wasn’t going to take all those pizzas home,” Sanders laughed as she spoke about that evening.

She proceeded to follow the bus back to Hallandale Beach, 30 miles from Boca, to deliver the pizza.

Sanders’s efforts resulted in her receiving a “Random Act of Kindness” award from the Hallandale Beach City Hall last Wednesday night. She was also on a local radio program about the experience.

“Those kids were really suffering in the heat. I didn’t think what I did was all that special,” Sanders said.

Sanders, who is currently a financial planner, taught school for a decade.

“I was born in Clifton, Texas, then my mother and I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her mother met her step-dad, who was from Titusville. When Sanders was eight-years-old, they moved there.

She graduated Edinboro University with a degree in education and became a teacher. She also has two Master’s degrees from Phoenix University in education-related disciplines.

She became a tutor after getting married, then got into financial planning after getting divorced.

“I am certainly appreciative for my western Pennsylvania upbringing,” Sanders said. “It’s part of who I am.”