A homeless family in Jonesboro, GA got the surprise of their lives when they were pulled over by the police – and got their van insured in the process.
Rayshell and Joe Blakney were driving last week to a motel to spend their last night before ultimately living out of their van – they were joined by four of their six children (the two eldest were in school at the time of the incident).
However, they were pulled over by Officers France Spencer and Brian Waters, since the van had no insurance.
Both officers tried to reach Rayshell Blakney’s relatives to see if they could assist with paying for the van’s insurance. But instead of writing them a citation, Officer Spencer wrote a check to pay for the insurance.
“I knew they needed it,” Spencer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There was nobody else to do it, and to have the four kids with them — I just couldn’t put them out of their car since that was going to be their shelter soon.”
Not willing to stop at just paying for the van’s insurance, Spencer had a friend of hers create a GoFundMe page for the Blakneys, to help the family find stable housing. As of Sunday evening, the page had raised over $4,600 - surpassing the $4,500 goal.
According to the GoFundMe page, Joe Blakney is a Marine veteran with a full-time job.
