> reporter: this the home from which his mother sent him at age 5 to the milton hershey school. the more i approached hershey i understood i would not have the opportunity of seeing my mom everyday. >> it was sad enough when my brothers went. >> reporter: but that was the young one. pete was the youngest of four boys and five girls. when their dad died his mother knew they would have more opportunities at the school than at home. pete excelled. >> he said to me, some day, i want to be president of this school. i neverring forgot it. i thought he was dreaming at the time. >> reporter: meet wasn't dreaming. he understood the school's mission, to educate children in financial need to leave productive lives. pete went on to hold many jobs, director of enrollment, assist and to the president, vice president. his experience has prompted him to share his beginnings with two high-achieving seniors always from philadelphia. >> he is there to support you. >> he knows what we go through there. heals about there all his life. the milt. >> reporter: he owes it to his mom who lives in hershey

the milton hershey said we must balance the goal of keeping a child at school to ensure the safety ofusted to the care. in other words, the school believed abby could be a danger. abby's stepmother told her the bad news. >> i said the school does not want you to attend graduation because you've been in the hospital. >> abby was devastated. her mother called the school. >> abby has been through so much, been through so much. this will be devastating to her. i cannot believe you are doing this. i said, are you a child care professional at all? i said what are you, a bunch of morons? >> the school did not budge. eight days after the graduation she wasn't allowed to go to, abby's step grandfather was in the house and called her name. he did not get a response. he walked up to her room and saw her in the closet. >> i said oh my god, abby, what did you do? and i was kind of waiting for an answer but i knew it wasn't going to come. >> abby was dead. she had hanged herself on the clothing rod in the closet. >> i miss her. i wish she was still here. >> abby's family believes the hershey school

my team of people who have been supporting me, i've been very fortunate through the years with milton hersheyen very blessed. >> jason, this is thomas. we love the story, love the hershey school story as well. just out of curiosity, i know that you give back a lot now. so two things on that. explain how you are giving back to those coming up behind you and just on a personal level, so many people inspired by your story, your family story, your relationship that you have today if you have one with your parents. have they been able to see your success. >> i've been on several mission trips to haiti through my church so i like to give back. we created a program called you gift, we gift. if folks wanted to go to our website, you could submit a story for a child who may not get a gift for christmas. we load up my rv, drive around and look for these children and give them gifts for the holiday because reflecting back on that time when i didn't have heat in the house and somebody knocked on the door and left a gift for me, it's one of the things we do as a company. and my relationship with my parent

. >> he takes the helm of the milton hershey school on august 1. lisa thomas-laurey channel 6 "action news." >> our "shelter me rescue of the week" profile is next on "action news" saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. >>> children in south jersey make a special birthday gift for a boy in the fight for his life. >>> chris sowers is tracking heavy showers in the exclusive accuweather seven-day forecast when "action news" returns what can i get you? [customer] oh, sorry. i was daydreaming. [server] dreaming about your wedding, huh? [customer] yes! actually. [server] with a big ice sculpture and a string quartet? [violins playing] [customer] yeah. how'd you know? [server] you've got the new instant game from pennsylvania lottery. [customer] yeah. $1 million golden ticket, with 5 top prizes of 1 million bucks. [narrorator] want to see your dreams come to life? you could scratch your way to instant winning today. the pennsylvania lottery. bring your dreams to life. >> heavy showers pushing through parts of the area right now. don't worry it's not going to last

rick is one of abbie's family attorneys and a graduate of the milton hershey school. >> it's like theyas mean as possible. >> i love her, and if she would have just given it more time, she would have got over what the school beened her. >> after abbie died, a funeral was held on the school grounds. >> she cared for others in a way that i have not seen in many people in my life. and this school, that did not permit abbie to go to the graegs, allowed her to be buried in the hershey school section of the local cemetery. >>> thank you so much. coming up next, a food truck explosion. look at this, flames and smoke shooting up, no one was injured or killed. now police know what happened. plus, his record setting performance has people calling him the u.s. secretary of defense. tim howard talks to cnn today. he is "the man." we asked what his plans are once he comes home. part of his response, getting more ink. >>> a man is in serious trouble after driving drunk and hitting a police officer. the officer out there directing traffic following an accident on the beltway, when a car barrels into

milton hershey has a killer recipe for caramel. h forward milton's recipe is reimagined into buttery rich, smooth, surprisingly soft cremes. >>> hello i'm david eades. top stories this hour. a court rules that the dutch government who is responsible for the killings of more than 300 bosnian men from the srebrenica massacre. >>> air strikes on targets in gaza continues as hamas keeps up rocket fire on israel. more than 200 palestinians and one israeli have been killed. >>> now, there is a good chance that you may be looking at your phone right now. not just watching the tv. just turns out most people admit they spend far too much time looking at screens these days. in a survey, 60% of people agreed that they are constantly looking at screens. and that rises more than 70% here in britain, but also in china and australia. in a separate question, 55% of people worldwide said they wished they had a simpler life. and in china, a full 78% of people said they prefer a slower pace to go with that. others in the survey said they thought techn

hershey. >> ultimately it really turned out to be the best decision that she's ever made on my behalf. >> he takes helm at the milton-er isshy school august 1. lisa uncle craig, what's the deal? oh...you can't record that many shows at once. why? i guess they didn't feel like it. you can't save every single cartoon. why? you can't just watch tv wherever you want. why? you know you can't pause the tv here and play it in another room. why? it's time for fios quantum tv. store up to 200 hours in hd. record up to 12 shows at once. pause and play live tv, room to room. plus, watch live tv on the go with the fios mobile app. redefining what tv can be. upgrade to a fios triple play and get $250 back with a two year agreement. plus an extra bonus from verizon wireless - this free lg tablet or up to $200 off any tablet from verizon. call 1.877.797.fios to join today! call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v >> a maryland casino looking to hire people that may have lost jobs in accuweather. the kation even owe is hoping to hire r50 workers. job fair is targeting employees of show boat and