Bristol, N.Y. --- Sherrie Anderson was ordained as a minister on Sunday and on Thursday evening she needed no more proof as to the impact of faith in her life.
Around 5:30 p.m. Anderson was with five of her eight children playing on a pond in Bristol on property the family owns. Fourteen-year-old McKenna and 16 year-old Jordyn were wrestling on a small row boat while mom cheered them on while videotaping the fun with her iPhone.
Her three younger children were drying off in the family’s 15-seat Econoline van. Unbeknownst to mom at the time her five year-old daughter Chase had managed to remove the van’s keys from a cup holder, put them into the ignition and turn them slightly without turning the motor on, and then she was able to shift the van from park to neutral.
The van drifted downhill with Chase, two year-old Selah, and four year-old Justice inside.
"I threw my phone down and just immediately ran and it was already submerging,” Anderson recalled. “I was able to get in through the back door of the van and they were very calm, they were crying but they were very obedient, so I told them to climb over the seats.”
The van sunk in under two minutes and based on the audio you can hear while the iPhone camera rolled it appears Anderson and her two teenage daughters managed to complete the rescue in barely one minute.
"It's like a complete drop-off. After like five feet it just goes straight down so it was amazing to me that the back (of the van) stayed up long enough for us to get them out,” McKenna said of how quickly the van sunk and drifted from shore.
