Heroes in uniform: These officers rolled up their sleeves and went above and beyond to help an older couple in need
When two Utah police officers spotted an older couple struggling to unload and lay heavy sod in their front yard, they responded by rolling up their sleeves and putting in the lawn for them!
George Rosenthal pulled up to the Orem, Utah, house he had just rented out to a new tenant in a truck weighed down with a whopping 5,000 pounds of sod. The last renter had neglected the lawn, and George, 71, was determined to bring the grass back to life. But as the retired plumber and teacher started lifting the rolls one by one, he realized how physically grueling this task would be.
I don’t know if I can manage this, George thought.
Watching her husband huffing and puffing, George’s 68-year-old wife, Gaylene, worriedly told him, “You can’t pick those up by yourself; they are too heavy.”
Just then, across the street, two city policemen, Sgt. David Call and Officer Bo Adamson, who work as school resource officers, were finishing up a home check on a student, when they spotted George and Gaylene.
Man, they have a truck full of sod, and that thing is about bottomed out, Sgt. Call thought. And noticing they were seniors, he grew concerned. Those folks shouldn’t be doing that.
Turning to his partner, Sgt.
Call said, “I’m going to go give them a hand.”
“Let’s do it,” Officer Adamson agreed.
And to George and Gaylene’s surprise, Sgt. Call and Officer Adamson walked over and began hoisting the rolls of sod off the truck. Just then, a passing neighbor, whom George and Gaylene didn’t know, noticed the two uniformed men unloading the truck and, guessing what was going on, started helping too.
For the next hour, George and Gaylene watched in grateful amazement as the trio of Good Samaritans not only unloaded the truck but laid down the sod rolls and even trimmed them to create a brand-new lawn.
“Thank you so much!” the couple gushed, as Gaylene snapped a photo of her “landscapers” for a keepsake.
Then with wide smiles and wishing the couple well, the officers and their anonymous helper said goodbye.
The random act of kindness would have remained within that small group. But when Sgt. Call got home that day, his wife asked how his uniform had gotten so dirty.
When he explained, she was so touched, she couldn’t help sharing the story with friends. And when she heard a local orthodontist was sponsoring a Hometown Heroes contest, she nominated her husband— and he won.
Though honored, Sgt. Call remains humble.
“The police are the public and the public are the police,” he says. “To me, that translates to, we should all be working together as a community. That was a reason I got into law enforcement: I want to help people. That’s true of the majority of officers—they just want to help people.” George agrees.
“This is an incredible favor that they did for us that you don’t hear about every day,” he says. “It was just an amazing kindness and a neighborly thing to do. I think it probably happens more often than we realize.”
Elijah, 16 months, submitted by Mother Jennifer Ortiz, MI