Just when Shirley Myers and her family thought that 2020 was hard enough, with the pandemic and all the socio-political developments going on lately, life had one more hardship in store for them.
On September 25, Shirley was about to start her car, when it suddenly exploded. Myers was lucky enough to manage to get out of the car safely, but what followed looked as if it was taken right out of Dante’s Inferno.
Not only did Myers’ car catch fire – obviously-, but the fire spread from the car to the carport and, from there, to the whole house.
Just when everything seemed lost, Myers couldn’t do anything but pray, and that’s when he approached her.
A Smyrna Police Department officer joined her in her prayer for everything that was lost, but also for everything that was spared.
The SPD officer and the woman praying while her house was engulfed in flames made the local news and the officer’s identity was soon revealed.
The photo of the man praying along with the fire victim was posted on the Smyrna PD Facebook page, and the man was identified as officer T. Melvin. According to that post, officer Melvin is a former Marine and, just like his colleagues, he often finds himself praying with victims.
“Officer Melvin and many other officers routinely comfort, pray, and protect those that we serve on a daily basis.”
The photo made a great impression on the public, and Facebook users soon flooded the PD’s post with words of praise for the sympathetic officer. One of them was Myers’ son, who thanked the officer for his kindness.
“I saw this picture last night after video conferencing with Mom while the first responders were bravely battling the flames,” he wrote. “Thank you Officer Melvin for lending not only aid, but comfort to my mom. She is so precious to me. You have no idea how much I appreciate you.”
After the incident, a GoFundMe was also created by Bridgett Minges on behalf of Shirley Mayers to help the family raise some money in order to restore their home.
According to Minges, not only was the house damaged by the fire, but the ceiling was also falling “due to water damage from the firefighters putting the fire out”.
Besides the damages that were caused to the house by the fire and the water, Myers and her husband were also left with no clothes.
“Unfortunately where the house caught fire was outside Shirley & Carroll’s bedroom. Shirley only has the clothes that were on her body and Carroll has a few work clothes,” Minges explained.
Therefore, it was a dire need for the couple to buy new clothes on top of everything.
The initial goal was to raise $1,500 and thanks to donations it was soon met.
But the story doesn’t end here.
A couple of months after the incident, officer Melvin was given a surprise. Meyers’ son painted a picture of his mom and Melvin praying while watching the burning building.
It was the most touching thing for the officer. The SPD team were so proud of their colleague that they shared the picture on the official Facebook page.
It’s so heart-warming to watch people go above and beyond for other members of the community.
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