Acts of Kindness
Cop caught sharing lunch with homeless woman
What a truly kind guy. We need more like him in the world <3.
Haley Bean
03.24.20

While simply out on her lunch break, Cassie Lea Parker saw something incredible. This cop was sharing his lunch with a homeless woman. The two were seated on the grass sharing a pizza. She works nearby and never expected to see something so heartwarming so so close. She decided to snap a picture and post it to Facebook just to restore some faith in humanity.

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The photo was soon reposted by a friend of hers. “Cassie was out on her lunch break and observed Goldsboro’s finest enjoying lunch with a homeless person. Law enforcement does so much for our community, with a lot of it going unnoticed. We see you Goldsboro P.D. Keep up the good work.” Chris Barnes said in her caption for the photo.

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After Barnes posted the photo, the Goldsboro police saw it and shared it, proud of their officer pictured in the photo and the post went viral.

The police officer in the photo is Michael Rivers, also known as officer Rivers. If you check out the Goldsboro Police Department’s Facebook page, you’ll see that Rivers is heavily involved in the community. You can find him posing for photos with community members and see him participating in other activities around the town.

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Rivers has worked for the Goldsboro Police Department for 9 years, and is very familiar with the people in his community, including the homeless population. However, he didn’t didn’t recognize this woman as he was making his rounds. He casually said hello as he drove by, but he said something felt off so he turned back. “God put it in my heart to get her lunch. So I turned around and I asked her ‘Hey, did you eat today’ and she said ‘No.'”

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The officer went and picked up a couple of pizzas nearby and he came back and sat with her for 45 minutes, just talking about life and eating. As he learned more about her, he realized that they had more in common than her thought. He brought up in an interview that the homeless are often looked down on but most of them are simply down on their luck. In a similar way, people tend to look at law enforcement in a negative light, based on the actions of a few, but in reality there are probably more officers like Rivers than they think.

A photo is worth a thousand words, and this one speaks volumes. Not only does looking at the image restore your faith in humanity, but knowing the full story brings to light a much more inspirational story everyone can enjoy.

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