The best acts of kindness are those that aren’t blatantly obvious. It’s all very well doing something for the community, but if you’re recording yourself to post online because you know it’ll give you an ego boost, your motives can seem a little confusing to your peers.
If you just want to do something from the goodness of your heart, expecting nothing back, it’s not always necessary to share the moment with the world.
When helping his own community, Police Officer Kent Green was an undercover kind of guy.
He had his own way of looking out for the homeless, and he didn’t brag about it or record it for the world to see.
So when people started telling Officer Green that they’d seen the photos of him online, he was confused.
After some searching, he found the pictures that everyone was talking about, and realized what must have happened.
Officer Green was on his duties when he passed a dumpster and saw a man inside. The man, who was homeless, was collecting cans and bottles. Concerned for his safety, Officer Green asked him to get out.
Speaking to Runner’s World, he explained that dumpster diving can be really dangerous, adding:
“We’ve had some deaths from people either falling asleep or camping out in a dumpster, or behind, and then the garbage vehicle comes out and it can end really badly.”
When the man climbed back onto solid ground, Officer Green realized he might have an opportunity here.
The man’s shoes were past their best, and Officer Green had the perfect replacement pair for him.
So he grabbed a pair of running shoes from the back of his car and handed them over to the man, who gladly tried them on.
It was during this moment that resident Jenny Crider snapped a couple of photos from the inside of her apartment – and those were the photos that ended up going viral.
She wrote:
“This man comes by our complex a few times a week collecting cans to earn money from recycling them. When I went to grab our mail, a police officer drove up and got out to talk to him. I honestly thought he was going to ask him to leave and stop going through the trash. When I came back home from getting the mail, the officer had brought out a nice, new pair of shoes to give to the man.”
She ended her post saying:
“It’s the simple, Christlike acts like this that give me hope in this world. Thank you Mesa Police for having such wonderful officers patrol the area!”
You’re probably wondering what led Officer Green to offer the man some shoes, and why he had a pair to hand.
The City of Mesa Police Department explained the backstory behind Officer Green’s act of kindness on a Facebook post, explaining:
“Officer Green is a competitive runner. Shoes that you and I would wear for a year, he can only use for weeks or months depending on the miles he puts on them. The shoes are like new when they are past their competitive life. Just to give back, he keeps several pairs of shoes in the car while on patrol. If he finds someone in need and the shoe fits… You guessed it, they get a new pair of shoes. This time someone happened to catch him in his act of kindness.”
In his Runner’s World interview, Officer Green said that it’s common for him to see people who are barefoot.
This is pretty unsafe as it is, but even more so in the Arizona summers, which allow you to “pretty much boil an egg on the concrete”, according to Green.
With many pairs of running shoes spare, Officer Green realized that he may as well give them to those in need.
His generosity had always been a private affair – but not anymore! We’re glad to see that this officer has been praised for his kindness, even if publicity was never his intention.
Isn’t this a beautiful story? You can check out the resident’s Facebook post below!
This man comes by our complex a few times a week collecting cans to earn money from recycling them. When I went to grab…
Posted by Jenny Crider on Thursday, June 30, 2016
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