Officer Michael Rivers, who is now 29 years old, has been working for the Goldsboro Police Department in the state of North Carolina for the last nine years.
Since the beginning of his employment, he has been familiar with the names and appearances of those who are without homes in his town. But in March, he saw a lady who didn’t seem to be someone he had seen before.
She attracted his eye for a number of reasons, the most prominent of which was the profound statement that was printed across the front of her white shirt. It said: “Homeless. The route that leads to obscurity the quickest.”
Rivers was driving with his windows down when he made eye contact with the other person as he went by. They exchanged greetings with a casual “Hey” before the officer left the scene in his vehicle.
On the other hand, he felt driven to return for some reason. The image of the lady living on the street wouldn’t leave his head.
According to what he shared, “God placed it on my heart to buy her lunch.” After that, I went around and questioned her by saying, “Hey, did you eat today?” And she responded with a negative,”
After that, he went to a local store and purchased a pepperoni pizza as well as a cheese pizza since he wasn’t sure which one she preferred. Rivers also purchased soft drinks for the two of them.
He circled back around to the location of the homeless lady and sat down on the grass next to her when he got there.
Rivers said that the discussion they had over the lunch made it much more enjoyable, despite the fact that the dish itself was great.
The officer and the lady, who introduced herself as Michelle, spoke about their lives for the subsequent forty-five minutes as they chitchatted with one another.
Rivers found out that she had two children, a boy who was 23 years old and a daughter who was 12 years old and was suffering liver illness and living in foster care.
Her husband, who was also without a house, standing across the street as they conversed. The touching scene was taken on camera by a bystander named Cassie Lea Parker, whose boyfriend uploaded it to Facebook and shared it with the world.
After they had finished their supper, the two of them went their own ways, however, Rivers came to the conclusion, as a result of their discussion, that he and Michelle are very much alike in the way that society evaluates them.
People who are without homes are often stigmatized by society and held responsible for their precarious living conditions. On the other side, the reason why law enforcement officials have a poor image is because society chooses to focus on the “bad apples” among them.
In support of the homeless, Rivers said, “Homeless individuals are simply people who have fallen on hard times. Anyone is susceptible to experiencing it.”
Rivers said that he did not become a law enforcement officer to make other people’s life more difficult, “when I get to work, the first thing I think is, ‘Who can I bless today?’ Whose grin can I put on today?”
In addition to receiving a lot of positive feedback online, several individuals went the additional mile and wrote Rivers handwritten letters as a way to show their gratitude.