Mom, Shantaphae Blakes, found herself in an unenviable position: It was 4:30am, she was minutes away from leaving for work, and was suddenly left with no one to babysit her young daughter. Shantaphae, a hardworking employee of the Starbucks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, called her boss to explain the dilemma.
Her boss was compassionate towards her situation and was told to bring her child to work and they’d figure out something. Luckily, two surprising volunteers stepped in to care for Shantaphae’s baby while she worked … a pair of state troopers.
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Troopers Brad Marshall and Austin White happened to be regulars of the Starbucks where Shantaphae worked. The two men found out about her dilemma and stepped in to act as babysitters while the busy mom finished her shift.
Her manager explained the entire situation on her Facebook page:
I wanted to send a special shoutout to our very own North Carolina State Highway Patrol. This was the sight at my Starbucks on University Parkway in Winston Salem, NC today. I had an employee call me in tears at 4:30 AM and tell me she had no one to take care of her daughter this morning as she was already on her way in to work. I told her to not worry, we would figure it out and to bring her on.
Shortly thereafter, our regular crew of troopers rolled in the door and took this sweet girl right into their care for over an hour. Trooper Brad and one of his fellow partners were outstanding in making sure we could still get our job done and even had a little fun with it. He even bought her a cup that she had been holding on to all morning. This is what the holidays are all about and it made my heart melt to see this unfold today.
Thank you, Brad and NC State Troopers everywhere, you guys rock!
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Shantaphae expressed her gratitude during an interview with WXII12.
“It touched me, the fact that he was actually with her for like, two hours. He had her for two hours non-stop. [He] wouldn’t put her down. [He was] running around and playing with her.â€
The officers themselves were more than pleased with the chance to babysit the sweet little girl.
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Said Trooper Brad Marshall, “I just played with her until they figured out what they were going to do. [She] was well behaved, she was very playful, so it was not a problem.”
They even said the little girl gave them a sense of peace and calm in a job that is typically hectic.
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This adorable news story is a nice reminder that there are awesome police officers out there to lend a hand — even in the most unusual of circumstances.
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