Mom asks cop if it’s legal to sleep in her car with kids and the officer jumps into action
When you’re a cop, you get more than just the typical questions asking for directions, assistance, or reports on questionable or downright suspicious activity. You hear quite a lot of random things too, from both young and old alike.
Sgt. Heather Kolke of Michigan knows this all too well.
She recalls the moment when a mom walked up to her with a string of legal questions, asked out of pure wonder. Apparently, the curious mom was homeless but she still wanted to make sure she was in compliance with the law. One of the questions she raised was if it was illegal to sleep in their car. The sergeant said,
“So of course I started asking more questions of her and discovered she was going to be sleeping in the car tonight so she could get the kids to school in the morning. They were homeless.”
The mom, Erin Harrison, told the sergeant that she and her two daughters, Hayden and Abbigale, were evicted from their home because they couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore.
But of course, like a protective and caring mother, she couldn’t allow her daughters to stay just anywhere. She decided that for the time being, they would sleep in their car, in the parking lot of the children’s elementary school.
The determined mom who works at a local McDonald’s was doing all she could to save enough for a decent place to stay.
When the sergeant, who was also a mother herself, was asked about sleeping in the car, she knew she just had to do something.
“As a mom, I knew I had to get her a place to stay.”
Moving fast, Sgt. Kolke reached out to her own circle and was able to collect enough money for a hotel room for the homeless mom and her two kids.
Not only that, the police sergeant also organized a birthday party for the twins who were turning nine in a few days. The local community and the police department teamed up to make it all possible. Sgt. Kolke offered more details about the party by mentioning the sponsors,
“Balloons donated by Party City, a cake from Buttercream Bakery. They said their favorite food was Pizza Hut. They donated pizza.”
The gesture made Erin and her girls extremely happy.
The grateful mom recalls,
“I was already talking to the girls, telling them I wasn’t going to be able to do anything for their birthday.”
The police sergeant had no idea how impactful her actions would be, how it would create a ripple that quickly reached everyone in town including the mayor, Mayor Linda Ackley. With the help of a local news station, the mayor appealed to those watching to lend a hand in order for Erin and her girls to find a place they could call home.
The response was amazing. Osram, the owner of a local gas station, got in touch with his business owner contacts to gather funds for Erin and her girls. His children even stepped up to donate more than three hundred dollars from their personal savings. A total of over $2,500 dollars was raised in just a short amount of time, with one person even offering to take the twins on a shopping spree worth $1,000 so they could have new clothes and stock up on other necessities.
Erin was overwhelmed. Repeatedly thanking everyone who pitched in, she promised all the money would be used for a nice, warm home for her two girls.
“I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means the world to my girls to get somewhere.”
It’s comforting to know that there are still a lot of kind, generous souls willing to step up and make life easier for those who are struggling.
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