INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD K9 Handler Officer Molly Groce called on others to help her with a huge act of kindness for a retail worker. She spotted that worker being kind to someone else. That's when Groce decided to thank him as part of a "pay it forward" challenge.
She found her target for the gift while doing her grocery shopping one day. After loading her groceries, Groce decided to return to the store to try to learn the name of the store employee that left her impressed by his actions.
"I actually already bought all of my groceries, but I am going back into the store to find out that employee's name," Groce said in a video.
Groce had been impressed with Caleb Harris after seeing him help a customer who is legally blind. Harris stayed with the customer, even guiding his cart to help him do all of his shopping.
"If I see someone that needs help, I am going to help them regardless. I feel like it's part of my job," Harris said.
That part of his job changed the course of his work day when Groce returned to the store with a gift in hand.
"I am getting ready to pay it forward. I get so nervous," Groce said in her video. "I am so nervous right now."
Groce was returning to the store with money raised as part of a pay it forward donation. She met Caleb, asked him to step outside, and that's where she surprised him with almost $5,000.
"As you can tell in the video, I didn't know what to say. I was kind of taken aback," Harris said.
The financial blessing couldn't come at a better time for him. He plans to use part of the money to buy a car to get to and from work, give a portion to his church and help others he knows are in need — which includes his mother, who has been battling cancer and finished her last treatment of chemotherapy.
"She's doing really well," Harris said. "She's hanging in there. She's doing really good."
It's something Groce said made the pay it forward challenge even more priceless.