An Unexpected Surprise During Lunch

When Shannon Loveless from Sacramento, USA, saw the police in her 'home' one sunny day, she was gripped by terror. 'I was sure they were going to arrest me in front of my kids, and I was beside myself with distress,' she recalls.

And indeed, she had good reason to worry. Loveless had become one of the many families included in America's alarming statistics of homelessness. 'It was December,' recounts officers Tim I and Johnny Lee, who were on a routine city patrol. 'As we walked, we suddenly noticed a family of six living in the forest, and we realized something was terribly wrong,' they report.

'I was in the middle of making lunch when they suddenly came to our 'home' of the last three months and asked to speak,' Loveless says. 'I feared the worst, but within seconds, I was met with the surprise of my life.'

It turns out that when the officers said, 'You have three minutes to leave the area,' they indeed meant it – but their plan took Loveless by complete and extraordinary surprise.

'It's hard to see your kids when they are so dirty and hungry'

'It was painful to see children living in a makeshift camp behind Walmart,' Lee shared.

'One officer told me: 'This place seems a bit cramped, don't you think? It's hard to see your kids when they are so dirty and hungry.' It really touched me.'

The officers didn't stop at empathetic words; they went to Walmart to buy some food and toys for the kids. 'That same day, they arranged for us to have a motel room so we wouldn't have to sleep outside,' Loveless recalls. 'I was so moved that someone in this world cared about us, it gave me so much strength to carry on,' she concludes, adding: 'We often only see the negative side of police officers and forget they're human too. These officers helped more than they know,' she sums up.

Within a month, the officers found a small apartment for Loveless and her children, where she will pay a nominal rent, with the rest covered by the police department. 'I am so grateful to them, and I just want them to know it. I feel I owe them everything for what they did for us.'

A Small Reminder: It's important to be grateful for the roof over our heads, the food that comes to our table daily, and all the other 'luxuries' that Hashem blesses us with. Remember well, nothing can be taken for granted.