A school resource officer and a special education bus driver at Farmington Junior High each received $2,500 from a national nonprofit after facing personal crises.

The Homes for Heroes Foundation donated $5,000 through the Davis Education Foundation to help Kellie Varela and Sarah Lowder at a ceremony Saturday, Aug. 29, according to a Farmington Junior High website post. Jay Flynn, the foundation's director, flew to Farmington to present the awards in person.

Varela, a resource officer at the school, was selected after a series of unexpected emergencies left her with mounting bills. Lowder, a special education bus driver in the Davis School District, recently lost everything in a house fire.

The gift was rare.

The Davis Education Foundation, which received the grant and directed it to the two employees, typically channels donations toward programs for Davis School District students. Donors can designate gifts for other purposes, and the Homes for Heroes Foundation specifically earmarked this money for Varela and Lowder. The foundation called the employee-directed contribution "extremely rare" and "very much appreciated."

The Davis Education Foundation said on Facebook on Aug. 30 that the ceremony honored both a badge-wearer and a bus driver. Flynn was joined by family, friends and foundation staff for the presentation.

The Homes for Heroes Foundation is the charitable grant-making arm of Homes for Heroes Inc., which was established in Minneapolis in 2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The organization supports law enforcement officers, firefighters, military members, health care professionals and teachers. According to the foundation's website, it has served more than 80,000 people nationwide and awarded more than $2 million in grants.