KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A new scholarship has been created and named after a Kalamazoo man who caught a child from a burning building.
Earlier this month, 28-year-old Phillip Blanks was caught on video in Arizona catching a 3-year-old who fell from a burning building. The video went viral and was featured on national news.
Blanks, who was a football player at Kalamazoo Central High School and later a Marine, was recently honored by the City of Kalamazoo for catching the child.
Monday, MLive reported that nonprofit Kalamazoo Mortgage Hero Salute would be creating a new scholarship in his honor. The organization works to “raise awareness, provide financial support to those in need and advance the charitable initiatives for the American Hero’s who have selflessly sacrificed for community and country,” according to the official Facebook page.
Seniors graduating from Kalamazoo-area high schools will have access to the scholarship, but the total amount has yet to be decided at this time.
Officials told MLive that it will be available to those who give back to their community.
Kalamazoo City Mayor David Anderson says they’ll also honor Blanks through a resolution for his heroic effort.
Blanks says the boy’s mother was the real hero. He says she sacrificed her own life to save her two children.
