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RICHMOND \u2014 It was an incredible act of kindness inspired by the relationship late Richmond Police Officer Seara Burton had with her community. <\/p>\n
At Burton’s funeral, Richmond Police Lieutenant Donnie Benedict shared a story from September 1 when someone walked into the police station and handed over a white envelope. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n 8 $1 bills for K-9 Officer Seara Burton<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Four words were written on the envelope \u2014 “people of the streets.” <\/p>\n Inside there were 8 one dollar bills. The anonymous donation was from the homeless community in Richmond. <\/p>\n “There have been many valuable gifts given in honor of Seara. However none, and I mean none, are more valuable than the gift of 8 $1 bills in a dirty white envelope,” Benedict said on Monday. <\/p>\n That act of kindness has sparked a movement in Richmond. The community is now rallying behind the homeless population. <\/p>\n Amber Conley made a call out on Facebook asking for donations. <\/p>\n “Ask and you shall receive; we’ve got more donations in the last 12 hours than we have in the entire 3 days. It’s been insane,” Conley said. “It just touched me so I got on Facebook and asked if anyone knew who they were or where they were.”<\/p>\n Conley said she received more donations than she could have imagined.<\/p>\n “They gave everything they had and they don’t even know where their next meal is coming from,” she said. <\/p>\n Benedict said Friday he was nearly speechless when he found out about the $8 donation. <\/p>\n “What do you say to it? I mean it’s amazing that somebody decided to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n The department decided to frame the gift rather than deposit it into the Officer Burton fund. <\/p>\n Benedict said that’s because it shows the big impact Officer Burton had on the community she served for four years. <\/p>\n “That ninth dollar that is in this frame represents now the first dollar of the next dollar that will be given in honor of Seara,” Benedict said. <\/p>\n Conley said she loves to see something positive coming out of the loss of Burton.<\/p>\n “If nothing else good comes from this horrible tragedy, it is the fact that this community has rallied behind our police officers [and] our homeless,” Conley said.<\/p>\n They have collected enough donations to fill an entire room in the Richmond Fire Station \u2014 everything from blankets, coats, water, tents and more.<\/p>\n “Her mom told me that she would love this. She would love people helping people and reaching out,” Conley said. “Everyone feels so hopeless and I feel like now that unfortunately Seara is gone this is the best legacy you could every leave behind is people showing kindness to the other citizens in honor of her.”<\/p>\n The group will hand out donations next week and Officer Burton’s family will be there to help. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n window.fbAsyncInit = function() { appId : ‘1575767939378722’,<\/p>\n xfbml : true,
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