Okay, folks, it’s Wednesday morning and you know what that means … get your tissues ready …

The right kind of cop …

Police lately have been coming under a lot of fire, much of it warranted.  But, we need to remember that not all cops are racists who would just as soon shoot a black man as not.  There are genuinely good police officers out there, and I just happened to find one who I think you’ll agree, has a good heart.

Brownie Lyons and her husband were driving around Lake City, Florida, one day earlier this month, when they saw Corporal Shane Foote of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office removing a chair from his cruiser.  On the grass nearby sat a homeless man.  Next, Officer Foote removed a large Chick-Fil-A bag and walked over to the homeless man, unfolded his chair, and sat down while the two shared a meal and conversation.

Ms. Lyons was so touched that she snapped a photo and put it on Facebook for all to see …

I do not know the officer, and personally it doesn’t matter if he’s in law enforcement or not. I wanted to show that there are people who do good things and not always for recognition.”

What Officer Foote did was a small thing, sure … probably cost him $10 and a half hour of his time … but you know it meant a lot to that homeless man that he took the time to sit down and share a meal with him.

An aside … when Ms. Lyons’ son saw the photo, he realized he had gone to school with Officer Foote and said that was exactly the sort of thing he always did …

“Shane all day everyday!”

Feeding those in need …

In Kandivali, India, Heena Mandavia and her son, Harsh, run a successful delivery kitchen.  Well, that is to say that they did, until the coronavirus took a toll on business.  As they contemplated closing their kitchen earlier this year, their mission suddenly became clear, says Harsh …

“A few months ago one of our regular customers, Abhinav Chaudhary, wished to donate money for feeding 100 people, but he asked me to find the needy people and feed them since he didn’t want to risk going out due to coronavirus risk. So, after doing some research, I found a place outside a Gurudwara where we did the first round of feeding 100 poor people with a full meal consisting of roti, sabzi, dal and rice.”

Heena and Harsh have been feeding the hungry in their community ever since.  To date, they have served over 5,000 meals to the needy, and the donations just keep coming in …

“It all began when I put up an appreciation post on my social media regarding the first food donation activity. And after that people started donating money online from all over India. In the first two days, we received Rs.11000 and then we started feeding the needy on a daily basis. I kept posting pictures and videos of the food donation drive every week and donations kept pouring in. In 49 days, we reached Rs 3.2 lakhs from five countries.”

Rs 3.2 lakhs is the equivalent of about $4,245, or £3,376.

Certainly, Heena and Harsh are good people, spending their days cooking for those in need, asking nothing in return, but so are all those people who are donating to the cause.

Update on an old good person …

Every now and then, I get an update on a ‘good people’ I’ve previously written about, and this week I came across one such update.  In April 2018, I wrote about Chad Houser, a top chef and restaurant owner in Dallas, Texas, who started a culinary program to train young men who were being released from juvenile facilities.  He started Café Momentum, a non-profit restaurant that provides employment, educational support and career counseling to these young people.  When I wrote the 2018 post, the restaurant was ranked the third best in all of Dallas!  So, let’s see what Chad is up to today …

Due to the pandemic, Houser temporarily closed the restaurant and with the help of his program participants, turned the space into an emergency food distribution center.

“We refocused the mission really, by listening to the community. We received a lot of calls from folks asking for help in specifically feeding food insecure students that were dependent upon school meals for their basic nutritional needs.”

Since March, Houser’s program participants have been putting together boxes filled with food items. They donate the boxes to a local school district that is distributing them to students in need. These efforts also allow Houser and his team to continue assisting the young men and women in their program.

“So much that we focus on as an organization is to provide … a stable and consistent ecosystem of support. It has also continued to provide income for them. When we have millions of people filing for unemployment, it’s one less issue that they have to deal with.  They’re doing a tremendous job stepping up to the plate during this time of crisis. So many of them have gone to the schools that the meals are going to. They’ve lived in the neighborhoods that the meals are going to. And it’s a full circle opportunity for them.”

A round of applause for this man and the young people he is helping to help others!

A critter saves lives …

Fifteen months ago, Jeff LeCates of Franklin, Tennessee, adopted 2-year-old Roux, a Belgian Malinois, from a rescue shelter.  On Saturday night, the 4^th of July, Roux woke Jeff with frantic barking, and when Jeff got up to see what was wrong, Roux flew to the front door, continuing to bark incessantly.  Jeff opened the door, and when Roux went flying out, Jeff followed.  To his horror, he saw that his neighbor’s house was on fire!

LeCates immediately pounded on their door, waking the family of three and their pets, who escaped unharmed.  He used a garden hose on the fire until firefighters arrived.  Not surprisingly, Fire Marshall Andy King said fireworks caused the fire.  Hats off to Roux, who most likely saved the lives of that family!

And that’s a wrap for this week, folks, but I’ll be back with more good people next week!  Meanwhile, let’s all be good people this week, even if its something as simple as baking cookies and sharing them with someone who could use cheering.