An Ohio cop noticed a little girl named Gabrielle hosting a lemonade stand, and when he found out she was trying to raise money to buy an iPad, Officer Zach Ropos did something extraordinary — he bought the little girl a brand new iPad with his own money.
As KTRK (Houston) reports, times have been hard for Gabrielle’s family (no last name was given). She needed an iPad for school work and for, you know, games and stuff, but her parents couldn’t afford to buy one. So she did what American children have been doing to raise pocket money for generations: she put up a lemonade stand.
Officer Zach Ropos of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office was on duty when he noticed the little girl’s lemonade stand, and struck up a conversation with her. When he found out that Gabrielle was saving up for an iPad, Ropos said he’d give her an old one he had lying around at home that he didn’t use any more.
However, when Ropos found out that the old iPad didn’t work any more, he went way above and beyond the call of duty, and bought her a brand new one (a bare-bones iPad, brand new, will set you back about $399 ).
Gabrielle’s mother, who declined to be identified, told the officer that his gift was even more meaningful to the little girl, according to WJW (Cleveland), because just before he arrived, Gabrielle had offered to give up all of her lemonade stand earnings so she could buy gas for her mom’s car.
Fortunately for Gabrielle, this story takes place in Ohio and not Texas. When cops in Texas saw little girls running a lemonade stand earlier this month, rather than buy the girls iPads, they shut down the lemonade stand for lack of permits, according to this Inquisitr report.
In a post on the Lake County Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page , Ropos’ boss, Chief Deputy Frank Leonbruno, praised his officer’s actions.
“I am sure he will be embarrassed to hear this highlighted and that it was never his intention to get recognized. But great job Deputy Ropos on making this little girl’s day! You really make a difference. And all of the best to Gabrielle and her new I-Pad.”
As of this post, the photo of the Ohio cop giving Gabrielle her new iPad has generated over 81,000 likes and over 20,000 shares on Facebook.
[Images courtesy of: Shutterstock / Hurst Photo , Facebook ]
