Last month, 28-year-old Richmond Police Officer Seara Burton lost her life after being shot while responding to a traffic stop.
At the funeral, Richmond Police Lieutenant Donnie Benedict shared a remarkable story, when a stranger walked into the police station to offer a gift of kindness and love.
The gift was an old and wrinkled enveloped containing 8 $1 bills as a donation to officer Burton’s family, with four words written on it, ‘people from the street’.
Benedict said, “There have been many valuable gifts given in honor of Seara. However, none, and I mean none, are more valuable than the gift of 8 $1 bills in a dirty white envelope.”
The department decided to frame the gift rather than deposit it into the Officer Burton fund as a reminder of the impact Officer Burton had on the community she served for four years.
This act of kindness and love touched the hearts of the people in Richmond and now they’re rallying behind their homeless community.
Amber Colney decided to reach out on social media to find others who would help.
She posted, “Ask and you shall receive; we’ve got more donations in the last 12 hours than we have in the entire 3 days. It’s been insane.”
“They (the homeless) gave everything they had and they don’t even know where their next meal is coming from.”
She said it reminded her of the story of the widow’s mite in the Bible. May God bless them all.