‘He did it because he cared’: Deputy buys groceries for hungry family in need

DENVER (CNN) – A deputy responding to a domestic dispute at a Denver-area residence found an even bigger issue at hand: hungry children.

Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Weiner went above and beyond to help the family, which includes a great-grandmother raising two children.

Weiner said he often sees people in crisis in his line of work.

“A lot of days it’s someone’s worst, worst day of their life,” he said. “I see a lot of suffering on the job. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of time to follow up because we’re call to call to call to call.”

However, there was one domestic disturbance call Weiner said he couldn’t put out of his mind.

On June 30th, Weiner responded to an apartment where 71-year-old Vicki Green was raising two young boys. The boys had reportedly gone to bed hungry and woke up hungry.

Green told Weiner she and her partner had been arguing, and a cruel act had escalated the dispute.

“He ate these two last hot dogs in the house that were supposed to be for the boys and made them just sit there and watch while he ate them,” Weiner said. “As a father and as a parent and just as a good human being like that just felt so vengeful and so mean.”

Instead of moving on to the next call, the deputy and his partner went to a nearby grocery store.

“I just knew there was something that I could do and I didn’t want to leave having that feeling later, knowing that in that situation I could do more,” Weiner said.

Green was overcome with emotion when the deputies came back with bags of groceries.

“It was not just an obligation or a duty,” Green said. “I think he did it because he cared.”

Deputy Ryan Weiner, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office

“I just felt grateful in that moment that in some way … there was some minute resolution for the time being for her,” Weiner said.

The groceries may have fed Green’s family that day, but Weiner’s kindness continues to feed her soul.

“He was a blessing,” she said. “He was, I was not his, he was my blessing. I’d do it all over again.”

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