Police from Kansas City, Missouri are raising funds for a single mother after she donated her $100 lottery winnings to a police officer who was shot in the line of duty.
According to NBC12 in Kansas City, Shetara Sims is a single mother who lost her job because of the coronavirus pandemic. She said she had $7 and bills due but she found a $1 bill in a grocery store parking lot and bought a scratch-off ticket. She won $100.
Her daughter, Rakiya Edmonson, 12, suggested they donate the winnings to a police officer who was shot on July 2 while chasing a suspect. He is currently in the intensive care unit in stable condition, KCPD shared.
“She won $100, and I said we should donate it to the police officer that got shot for his family to go eat and see him,” Rakiya said.
On July 10, Sims made the $100 donation anonymously.
NBC12 says police “spent days tracking her down” and set up a GoFundMe page for the single mother. As of Wednesday morning, the site had raised more than $51,000.
“Even still, when we tracked her down, she said, ‘Doesn't the officer's family need it more than me?’ She's got a heart of gold, and here's how you can help her out: gf.me/u/ygr4ya,” the Kansas City police department said in a tweet.
Sims said she appreciates the work of police officers. After her other daughter was murdered in 2012, Kansas City police stayed in contact with her and visited the family often, Sims said.
“The detectives were really there for us. They were there for us more than anyone I can imagine. They did things they didn’t have to do,” Sims said. “They came to see my kids. They did a lot. They were fathers, therapists. They were everything.
"I never seen the empathy that they had from strangers. They just gave us hope. They were good for us," she said.
Donate to Rakiya Edmonson's GoFundMe page here.
Photo courtesy: KMBC9 News Screenshot
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
