BALTIMORE — In October, Baltimore lost two heroes in a large row home fire on Linden Heights Avenue.
EMT/firefighter Rodney Pitts III and Lieutenant Dillon Rinaldo.
Sunday, Jimmy’s Seafood is hosted a fundraiser in their honor.
The Heroes Salute Fundraiser was created to raise money to support fallen firefighters with the Baltimore City Fire Department.
Jimmy’s Seafood has been hosting the event for the past two years.
This year they decided to give all of the proceeds to the families of Lieutenant Dillon Rinaldo and EMT/firefighter Rodney Pitts III
“Yeah, I think it’s just on required. Honestly not just financially but to know that the community it’s always gonna be here for you weeks months after the tragedy happens it just really speaks to the character of Baltimore is the city," says John Minadakis.
Former ravens player Ray Rice shared a few words with the families.
Friends, family members and other firefighters got to participate in a silent auction and raffle to raise more money for the families.
Amber Brown who is a long time friend of Rodney Pitts says she is overjoyed to see the amount of love and support given to both families by their community.
“This has been a lot. Like we were a year apart. He was younger than me. We went out all the time so it’s definitely a burden to our friend group and everything. I walked into a bar the other day that we used to go to and it like made me so emotional we just miss him so much. It was definitely a big loss for us," says Amber.
Rodney Pitts’ mother says loosing her son has been the hardest thing she has ever had to face.
She wants people to remember that her son never gave up on chasing his dreams and she hopes others never give up as well.
“I just have so many emotions right now sadness joy, overwhelmed by all of this it’s just incredible like it really touches my heart like I didn’t expect all this, and I’m just so overwhelmed and just so grateful and so humble to everybody for doing this because nobody had to do it," says Monica Gant.
Organizers say the goal was raise at least $10,000 for each family.
