Girl, 9, Uses Birthday Money To Buy Lunch For Detroit Police Officers After Seeing Dallas Shooting On TV
DETROIT (WWJ) -- Police officers at Detroit's 11th Precinct got a special birthday surprise on Saturday.
A nine-year-old Detroit girl decided to celebrate her birthday not by receiving gifts, but by giving them. Samya McLaughlin brought bagged lunches -- made up of sandwiches, chips, fruit and a cookie -- that she paid for with her own birthday money as a gift for officers at the precinct.
"I was thinking that I should feed the police officers because I wanted to show them that I support them and I thank them for all that they do," McLaughlin said. "I wanted to show them that all lives matter."
In thanking @detroitpolice, 9yr old buys 11th precinct lunch. In her words "all lives matter." My reports @WWJ950 pic.twitter.com/GHfc5jbQKo
— Jason Wirgau (@JasonWirgau) July 9, 2016
A nine year old girl celebrates her b-day by buying lunch for DPD 11th Precinct. My LIVE report 11:03 @WWJ950 pic.twitter.com/HFLY7yaCiD
— Jason Wirgau (@JasonWirgau) July 9, 2016
Bagged lunches prepped & presented to DPD's 11th district by 9yr old girl who used her b-day cash to do so @WWJ950 pic.twitter.com/rEwaX4xCZP
— Jason Wirgau (@JasonWirgau) July 9, 2016
How did the young girl come up with the idea? After watching the news with her grandmother and seeing the devastation this week in Dallas, McLaughlin thought she would do something special for the officers in her community.
"We discuss things that's going on," McLaughlin's mother said. "I always ask her how she feels about it."
The officers made Samya "Officer of the Day" and presented her with gifts of her own as a thank you.
"It makes you feel proud," McLaughlin's father Sam Walker said. "She has a big heart and she knows how to care, and she knows how to appreciate what's going on."
Samya also passed out around 30 bagged lunches to the homeless in Detroit's Cass Corridor.