By Suzie Ziegler
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — One New Mexico woman has been quietly paying for police officers’ dry-cleaning for five years. During all that time, the do-gooder has remained anonymous. Now, Donna Stryker has decided to come forward.
Stryker says she was inspired half a decade ago while she was dropping off her drying cleaning, reported FOX 2.
“I was right here and actually there was a police officer in front of me,” said Stryker. “I thought, ‘What if I paid for his uniform?’”
But the cashier told Stryker that the officer had already paid.
“So the next time I caught it and I was able to pay for the uniform and I was like, ‘Well, what if I just leave money?’”
Stryker wasn’t sure if she should reveal her identity, but ultimately decided that a little publicity might inspire others.
“Las Cruces is not really recognized for the goodness and generosity of every single person I run into anyway and people pay it forward all the time and I thought that if I came forward maybe it would inspire someone else to do something,” said Stryker.
According to the report, Stryker drops off money every month to Comet Cleaners. The money is then distributed across all Comet locations to help law enforcement customers.
“Law enforcement officers represent our city and the departments they work under, so they have to look their best and in a professional way so were glad to be a part of that to help them,” said Dan Schneider, the owner of Comet Cleaners.
Stryker’s good deeds certainly made an impact on Vanessa Sanchez, who took her husband’s uniform in for dry cleaning last week to find the bill had already been paid.
“It completely warmed my heart and I started crying,” Sanchez told FOX2. “It was just an amazing feeling because my husband gets that gratitude on a daily sometimes but as a spouse to feel that it was amazing.”