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A police officer's compassionate act inspired a program to help officers offer a 'hand-up'

Officers get a debit card to help with a person's immediate needs—food, diapers, transportation, replacement of stolen items, and more.

Photo credit: Canva

BlueBridge Alliance gives officers the means to provide material help community members on the spot.

We often think of police officers as the people who enforce laws, arrest suspects, and generally deal with the criminal element of society. But many of the people the police come into contact with aren't criminals. Sometimes they're victims. Sometimes they're people in crisis. When officers respond to a service call, they often find people on their worst day during a difficult time.

Ideally, officers are trained to help connect community members with services that can help them, but people often have other needs that are practical, material, and immediate. Financial struggle can compound whatever else is going on, and officers often find themselves either at a loss to help or dipping into their own pockets to meet a small need they know they can do something about.

It was a San Diego police officer's act of compassion—buying a snack for a hungry neighborhood child shortly before being shot and killed in 2011—that inspired Brian Spracklen to ask, "What if every officer had the resources to offer similar kindness in moments of vulnerability?" Four years later in Kennewick, Washington, Police Chief Ken Hohenberg (an old friend of Spracklen's) launched a program with the support of community leaders to provide exactly those resources, funded by donations from the local community.

That initiative had a profound effect on police-community relations in Kennewick. Officers were able to perform random acts of kindness like buying diapers for a struggling mom, replacing a critical tool that had been stolen, or meeting other essential needs to make someone's situation just a little bit easier. Those acts of compassion help foster greater trust with the community, leading to increased cooperation, improved communication, and enhanced public safety.

The success of that pilot program spread. Today, Spracklen and Hohenberg run BlueBridge Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that currently partners with 58 police departments across Washington state.

BlueBridge's goals are simple:

  1. To relieve suffering by providing immediate, on-the-spot, short-term assistance to those in urgent need.
  2. To strengthen (and where necessary, restore) mutual trust and respect between the police and the members of the community they serve.
  3. To boost police morale and renew officers’ service ethos, leading to improved recruitment and retention.
The way it works is simple as well. Each officer is provided a debit card with a certain amount of funds (say, $100 a month) that they can use at their discretion as they see needs arise in their daily work in the community. The continual flow of funds is raised locally, giving the whole community an opportunity help out their neighbors when they need a "hand-up." On-the-spot aid may sometimes be a band-aid for a bigger issue, but as we all know, a band-aid is a big relief when you really need one.
Though some people believe that it's not a police officer's job to buy someone a bus ticket or groceries to get them through the week, the reality is that the police are often right there on the ground, face-to-face with people in need. Giving officers a way to "serve and protect" in material ways is an efficient method of meeting people's immediate needs, not to mention a means for one human to help another.

"It might be surprising for many people to know that most police aren’t out to 'bust' people for doing things," Spracklen tells Upworthy. "They typically get into their profession because they want to help people out. And, most people they have contact with are good people having a bad day or experiencing a rough spot. Our program provides them a tool that can help 'bridge' a gap between what’s needed right now and connecting them with resources that can help them longer-term. This builds trust, improves public safety, and saves money in criminal justice costs to the public."

Here's one example of the initiative in action shared by an officer in Pullman, Washington:

"I came in contact with a military veteran approximately 80 years old, who was seeking help due to the heat in his apartment not working. The male had made a complaint to the property management and had a work order to be created for the repair of the heat in his apartment unit, though it had not been completed before the weekend. The male had attempted to call the afterhours number for the property and called the Community Action Center, who oversees the apartments he lives in. The male told me he was cold, and did not have the funds to purchase a heater while he waited for the property management to fix his. The male told he had metal plates in his leg due to being in the military and was struggling in the cold. At the time of contact with the male, it was approximately 40 degrees outside with a cold breeze. The male had two more days until it was business hours again to attempt to reach management about the heat again. I attempted to call them myself and was unable to speak with anyone. I then decided to purchase the male a space heater for his apartment until his heating could be fixed. The male was surprised when I arrived with a heater in hand but immediately thanked me for getting one. It was not his fault the management did not fix the heater before ending their workweek, and it felt good to help someone make it through the weekend without being cold." - Officer A. St. Andre

Naturally, there are questions about accountability. When officers use the card, they upload their receipts to the BlueBridge system and fill out a report, which provides information about how the funds were used as well as demographic data that helps inform the program. There's also a way to anonymously report a misuse of funds through the BlueBridge website.

The heart of the program is compassion, but hard data plays a big role in the program's success. Spracklen says BlueBridge Alliance was founded almost like a tech startup. "We are always looking at metrics, and learning and improving from them—it’s a never-ending cycle," he says, adding that there are unique challenges to getting non-profit efforts off the ground compared to for-profit companies: "There’s a fundraising paradox for nonprofits: The smaller you are, the more expensive it is to obtain funds that are desperately needed. And, you can’t afford to fundraise much when you’re trying to spend people’s donations to achieve your organization's goals for doing good."

It costs around $5,000 to get a new community set up with the program. Though BlueBridge Alliance is currently only partnering with precincts in Washington state, there are expansion plans in the pipeline.
"We have over 100 law enforcement agencies across the country on our expansion list who are clamoring for a program," says Spracklen. "We’re trying to obtain the funding to get them started up. We found that once started, communities overwhelmingly support their local programs through donations, but it’s the initial hard costs of getting the program started that’s a challenge."
People can donate to the general BlueBridge Alliance mission here, and Washington residents can search for their local departments' funds here.
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People rally around woman who ghosted friend after his husband's sudden death

"This was a catastrophe..."

via Liza Summer/Pexels and Canva/Photos

A woman upset she's not talking to her friend.

A woman’s social media post begs the big question: How far should someone go to put themselves out for a friend after they experience a traumatizing situation together? It all began when a woman made friends with her neighbors, Eli and Leo, a same-sex married couple. However, she began to distance herself from Eli after a while because he was “selfish” and “not a very good friend.”

One day, as she was leaving the house to go shopping, she received multiple calls from Eli that she didn’t pick up. He then texted her, “Leo just passed. Please answer.” She rushed home and saw an ambulance in front of the apartment building. When she got to Eli’s apartment, she saw Leo lying dead on the floor with Eli hugging him, sobbing inconsolably.

“They were watching TV when Leo suddenly got up and said he has pain in his chest, then collapsed. Paramedics came and pronounced him dead. They said we now have to wait for the police,” the woman wrote on Reddit. “We were waiting like this on the floor—Eli sobbing and hugging Leo’s body, and me hugging Eli—for almost 2 hrs. Then police came, and we sat on the couch right in front of Leo for another few hours. I did my best to stay calm and collected and help Eli. Many hours later, they took Leo away.”

ambulkance, heart attack, health care, emergency, ambulance driverThe back doors of an ambulance.via Canva/Photos

Eli asked the woman to call and tell Leo’s parents, who didn’t know that he was gay or married. They didn’t believe her. Eli’s cousins came over for a while and then left. “I stayed till late night, ordered food, cleaned, etc. We watched TV under the same blanket I used to cover Leo’s body. I didn’t sleep that night,” the woman continued.

Over the next few days, Eli kept calling the woman, asking her to come over, but she told him she was “sick” because “the thought of entering that apartment makes me shake.” The incident was so traumatic for the woman that she has made an appointment to see a therapist. “I feel deeply affected by what happened. I keep seeing flashbacks. I’m afraid to leave my apartment because I’m afraid to run into Eli. I was already depressed and I’m so so lonely,” she wrote. “I feel so guilty for ghosting Eli in this horrible situation when his whole world collapsed.”

upset woman, sad woman, trauma, woman staring at floor, brunette, woman on couchAn upset woman with her thoughts.via Liza Summer/Pexels

She asked the online forum if she was in the wrong for ghosting Eli, and just about everyone supported her choice.

“No, dear, [it’s not your fault]. This was a catastrophe, and you are in crisis and need help. What happened to you was very traumatic, and you are traumatized; you need to find help from your loved ones (or professionals, if those resources are available to you) to heal from this. You can't draw water from an empty well, and in my opinion, you should only consider assisting Eli in ways that contribute to or at least don't completely derail your recovery. You've already been more help to them than anybody else has. You can't keep anybody warm by setting yourself on fire. I'm so sorry this happened to both of you, what a horrible, tragic experience and loss,” the most popular commenter wrote.

“His husband just died, and you were kind enough to help him through the immediate aftermath. It does suck that he doesn't have a support system he needs, but you don't either,” another commenter wrote.

via Canva/Photos

The only person with a problem with how the woman handled it believes that she needs to give Eli a reason why she isn’t responding to him. “[You’re in the wrong] for ghosting him without explanation. That only makes things worse. You are emotionally drained and do not have the bandwidth to support him. That is completely fine. You just need to communicate that fact to him,” they wrote.

Ultimately, the commenters believe the woman did the right thing to stand by Leo’s side, even in the most disturbing situations, and she deserves praise for her kindness. In the comments, the woman wrote that she has no support, so the positive response, even by a Reddit forum of strangers, has to have made her feel some relief at a time when she is so traumatized.

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A man who fell from his wheelchair into a lake and his little beagle saved his life

He could have drowned.

via Port St. Lucie Police Department/Facebook

Harry Smith was saved by his dog Sarah Jane.

In 2022, Eighty-one-year-old Harry Smith, who uses an electric wheelchair, was walking his beloved nine-year-old beagle mix, Sarah Jane, near a lake in Port St. Lucie, Florida, when the pleasant jaunt took a turn for the worse. Smith says that the left wheel of the chair “grabbed and spun me” and he wound up rolling down a grass embankment into the water. Smith can’t swim, could barely keep his head above the water, and without immediate help would have drowned.

Sarah Jane began to bark loudly, capturing the attention of Edward Suhling, 58, who was working on a trailer with Aby “Jacob” Chacko, 49. "Sensing his owner was in trouble, his dog began to bark loudly, which alerted two bystanders across the street," the Port St. Lucie police department wrote in a Facebook post.

At first, Suhling thought the dog was being attacked by an alligator. Then he saw Smith’s head poking out of the water. Suhling and Chacko ran over to the pond, flagging down a police officer along the way.


“As soon as I got here I saw the wheelchair and the dog and I recognized that's Harry and I know he can't walk,” Chacko said. Smith was in terror fighting for his life in the pond. “My legs don't work,” he said. “I can't push.”

“The dog was splashing in the water,” Suhling said. “So we both ran over here and I jumped in the water, and my buddy grabbed his arms and I grabbed his legs and we got him up on shore.”

After Smith was safely out of the water, the police officer administered medical attention and he was cleared to go home. Unfortunately, his wheelchair didn’t work, so the officer pushed him back to his home.


The Port St. Lucie Police Department later called Suhling, Chacko, and Sarah Jane heroes on its Facebook page. "We are thankful for Mr. Smith’s dog and the two bystanders that helped save his life!" the police department wrote on Facebook. "And as the saying remains true…A man’s best friend is his dog."

"She's such a good dog,” Smith later said about Sarah Jane. “Everybody in this neighborhood loves her, they all look out for her." After the pair made it home safely, Smith was sure to give his dog a treat. "I love her, always have, always will,” he said.

beagle, dogs, brown dog, floppy ears, grassA beautiful beagle.via Canva/Photos

While the dog’s heroics are pretty amazing, Sarah Jane knew that Smith was in danger and sprang into action for a couple of reasons. A lot of dogs have a strong fear of water. Not all of them love it like Labradors. If Sarah Jane was afraid of the water, she would have sensed her guardian was in serious danger.

Secondly, a 2020 study from Arizona State University tested whether dogs will help if they think their owner is in trouble. For the study, owners called out to the dog while appearing to be trapped inside a box. The dogs often attempted to free their owners after hearing them cry for help.

Are beagles good swimmers?

Beagles are known for being active and adventurous, but are they good swimmers? According to a vet-reviewed article at Dogster, Beagles aren't known for their love of water, and if they can swim, it doesn't mean that they enjoy it. They can learn how to swim, but they aren't natural swimmers.

The story of Sarah Jane and her guardian Harry Smith proves, once again, that we just don’t deserve dogs.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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13-year-old with terminal brain cancer designated honorary Secret Service agent at Joint Session of Congress

Devarjaye "DJ" Daniel was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma grade III in 2018.

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Devarjaye "DJ" Daniel designated honorary Secret Service agent.

One moment from President Donald Trump's address to a Joint Session of Congress night stole the show: when he designated Devarjaye "DJ" Daniel, a 13-year-old diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2018, as an honorary Secret Service agent. DJ's passion for law enforcement inspired a personal mission that has seen him designated as an honorary officer over 900 times by police departments across the United States since 2022.

"Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police," Trump said, as cameras panned to Daniel who was lifted up by his father, Theodis Daniel. "But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him 5 months at most to live. That was more than 6 years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

President Trump then gave DJ the surprise of his lifetime--he announced that he making him an honorary Secret Service agent. “And tonight, DJ, we're going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States.”

It was a complete surprise to DJ, whose eyes became wide and shock spread across his face as he was presented with a badge by Curran. His father once again lifted him up to cheers and chants of "DJ! DJ! DJ!", and DJ reached over to hug Curran.

Daniel was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma grade III in 2018, a disease that causes cancerous tumors and affects the central nervous system. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an ependymoma is a primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor that begins in the brain or spinal cord. They are grouped in three different grades (grade I, II, or III), with grade III being the most serious. "Grade 3 ependymomas are malignant (cancerous). This means they are fast-growing tumors. They occur most often in the brain but can also occur in the spine," according to the NCI. There is currently no cure.

In an interview with the White House Instagram account, DJ opened up about the night he was diagnosed with cancer. "You want to know the craziest part? My mom bathed me and my brothers all together, and out of nowhere I locked up. My dad was calling my name and I started going to the slow thing and said, 'Stop playing with me'. I'm not gonna lie, I started to act slow. And as soon as he said that we (were) speeding all the way, running lights going to the hospital. And then next thing you know I was seizing on the table."

He continued, "They said, 'We've got to go into his brain tonight.' Ever since then, I (have) had 13 brain surgeries. That's how many times my personality has changed. And that's something that you don't hear from a terminally ill child that has five months to live. I'm gonna keep going until my gas tank runs out. And that's when God calls you home. You never know when God will call you home. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my dad. I know he's pretty proud of me, and I'm pretty proud of him too."

DJ and his father appeared on Fox News' 'Fox & Friends' on Wednesday, March 5, where he shared more about his surprise honor. "I was not expecting it," he said in the interview. "Nobody even told us, even though that they knew. Really and truly, I wasn't expecting it to be like that, to be honest."

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