Temperatures in Ohio can get very hot in the summer months. That’s why Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Zach Ropos wanted to stop for lemonade. He was patrolling the streets in Painesville, Ohio, when he happened upon an adorable little lemonade stand being operated by a 9-year-old little girl named Gabrielle.
“I see a little girl come running up to my police car,” said Deputy Ropos, 22. “She hands me a glass. I hand her a few bucks. I asked her what she wanted to do with the money … she said she’d get an iPad to help with school and play games.”
Deputy Ropos was so impressed with how hard the young girl was working, so he stopped for a few minutes and spoke to her mother. While they were chatting, Ropos remembered something – he had an old iPad at home that he was not using it. He figured that he could give it to the young businesswoman in the making to help her run her lemonade stand more efficiently.
However, Ropos got home that night to find that his iPad was not working as he had hoped.
“I see a little girl come running up to my police car,” said Ropos, 22. “She hands me a glass. I hand her a few bucks. I asked her what she wanted to do with the money … she said she’d get an iPad to help with school and play games.”
The following day Ropos resumed his mission to get the little girl an iPad. He went to a local store and asked them if they would be willing to donate a few bucks toward getting Gabrielle the computer equipment she needed to effectively run her lemonade stand. When he had time later that day, Ropos returned to Gabrielle’s lemonade stand and spoke to her mother.
“I talked to the little girl, gave her a speech about how courageous and admirable I think her efforts were to save up her money. I asked her how much she saved up, and she said she only had a few dollars,” Ropos said.
Gabrielle said that her mother had run out of money for gas, so she had used the money earned from the lemonade stand to support her mother.
“I talked to the little girl, gave her a speech about how courageous and admirable I think her efforts were to save up her money. I asked her how much she saved up, and she said she only had a few dollars,” Ropos said.
Then, Ropos handed Gabrielle the new tablet device. His partner was there to capture the moment in action. The 9-year-old girl was thrilled to finally have her own iPad to use for her lemonade stand.
“She just wouldn’t stop hugging me,” adding, “Seeing her face is how I remember Christmas when I was five years old. She couldn’t stop smiling. Her smile was worth a million dollars.”
What do you think about this Sheriff’s Deputy going above and beyond the call of duty?
