An 81-year old North Carolina man with cancer returned home from a six-month hospital stay to an empty refrigerator.
With no food and no assistance, the 115-pound man called 911.
Unable to fend for himself, and with no family in the Fayetteville area, Clarence Blackmon called 911 telling the dispatcher that he needed someone to help him buy food, WTVD reports:
‘I can’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t get out of my damn chair,’ Blackmon told the dispatcher, Marilyn Hinson.
An hour and a half later Hinson, along with two officers, showed up at Blackmon’s home – with her supervisor’s permission – with a box of groceries she purchased.
‘He was hungry,’ Hinson told WTVD.
‘I’ve been hungry. A lot of people can’t say that, but I can, and I can’t stand for anyone to be hungry.
She brought him a head of cabbage, soft drinks, beets, and even made him a few ham sandwiches.
‘It was like a little miracle ringing in my ear,’ Blackmon said. ‘I thought, ‘Jesus, you answered those prayers!’
Blackmon will soon have a home health nurse who will check on him twice a week, but Hinson gave him her number telling Blackmon to call her if he needed anything, ABC News reports.
‘She is such a delightful lady,’ Blackmon told ABC. ‘It’s amazing. Us little people need a helping hand every once in a while.
‘Most of the time, we get overlooked. We’re still here.’
It’s humbling to watch officers carrying food to someone who needs it. It should remind all of us that what calls most police officers into their profession is a sincere desire to help and protect those who can’t do so for themselves. The dispatcher knew what it was like to go hungry and was not willing to just turn her back on an 81 year-old cancer patient in need. She bought him food out of her own pocket and it has now been arranged for him to have a home health nurse. But the dispatcher took it one step further… she gave him her number and told Blackmon to call her if he needed anything. What a wonderful woman and the officers that helped her are incredible as well. Blackmon had his prayers answered and they were delivered by angels in blue and black.