Community comes together to help family in need

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A family in need. A community coming together.

Put the two together and today, a young man and his parents got the surprise of a lifetime.

It's a gift Sebastian Castano and his family had no idea they were getting: reliable transportation.

It's something the family hasn't had until now.

“It was a big surprise to the family because they had no idea what this was about,” Russ Swift of Fantastic Finishes, an auto body shop, says.

It may have been a surprise to the family, but it had been months in the making.

Coming together to make it happen?

Local non profit the Hometown Foundation ,along with it's dream ride experience , their signature event, and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw donated the 2018 Dodge Caravan.

And then? Swift and his crew sent out the van to be converted for Sebastian and his family.

A gift of transportation but also the gift of peace of mind.

“We do the best for our community and the best for our friends and family,” Swift says.

Doctors diagnosed Sebastian with a rare form of epilepsy at the age of eight and then his life and his family's changed forever. Sebastian was later confined to a wheelchair and his family was not able to afford a vehicle that would get Sebastian around town in his wheelchair.

“A family that basically has not much to be thankful for but is thankful for everything and those people are very few and far between,” Swift says.

An incredible act of kindness showing people really do care.

“You make a living by what you make. You make a life out of what you give,” he says.

So what's next?

Swift says they hope to surprise a lot more families.