A basket full of groceries may not seem like much. But when your refrigerator is bare it’s a lot.
“If you can help somebody help somebody,” Dallas Police Department 911 Call Center Operator Valencia Crowder said. “It doesn’t have to be your family. It does not have to be somebody you personally know. If God put it on your heart to help them, help them.”
Crowder got a call from an elderly lady on March 29, during the pandemic shutdown, asking for resources for food. She said she didn’t have any food and hadn’t eaten in three days.
“That could be my grandmother,” Crowder said. “Anybody’s grandmother. She pretty much shouldn’t be going through that.”
Crowder took the issue to her supervisor Donna Shaw. With a collection from other operators they bought and delivered groceries to the caller.
“Here I am I have a job,” Crowder said. “I’m able to get around and take care of me and my family and here she is just asking for help. She said I had nobody else to call.”
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“It was just overwhelming to actually get there and see that she actually did need help,” Dallas Police Department 911 Call Center Supervisor Donna Shaw said. “She didn’t have anything in her cupboards. She didn’t have anything in her refrigerator.”
Crowder and Shaw know they can’t personally help everyone. They do hope their actions will inspire others to lend a helping hand where they can.
“A lot of people have lost direction and so there’s no love,” Crowder said. “We just need to start loving each other, just helping each other.”
“You don’t have to know someone to help them,” Shaw said. “Just do something kind and a kind gesture goes a long way as we can see through this.”
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
