SAN ANTONIO – Police officers signed up to serve and protect, but that doesn’t always mean just catching bad guys.
Two San Antonio Police East Side SAFFE officers went beyond the badge to help a grandmother and her two granddaughters who were living without AC in their home.
Ramona Valencia says that she and her adopted granddaughters lived an everyday life for six weeks in the middle of summer.
“It must have been a 107-108 it was hot,” said Ramona Valencia. “The girls kept saying, ‘Grandma, it’s hot, and I’m sweating,’ and they would touch me, and I was soaking wet in my face.”
The SAFFE unit — an acronym for San Antonio Fear Free Environment — consists of San Antonio Police officers who focus on identifying, evaluating, and resolving community crime problems with the cooperation and participation of community residents.
When the two SAFFE officers, Victor Salinas and Abraham Trevino, heard the family was being donated a window AC unit, they jumped at the chance to install it.
“I couldn’t get that thing installed fast enough and get it going; I have little kids, and I wouldn’t want them living in that type of environment,” Officer Victor Salinas said.
“And you said the girls will bring their table here, and they’ll play right here?” KSAT reporter John Paul Barajas asked.
“Yeah, because they love it, and they say ‘it’s nice and cool, Grandma,’” Valencia said.
But as the saying goes, you can’t always please everybody.
“Do you like playing by the AC?” Barajas asked.
“No, it’s too cold,” the granddaughter laughed.
While Officer Salinas and Trevino got the home nice and cool, they discovered another issue.
“I opened the refrigerator to see how hot it was, and it was spoiling everything inside,” said Valencia
“The refrigerator part wasn’t working, only the freezer, so they were sticking to frozen dinners only, and that broke our hearts. We were like, ‘We have to do something else,’” the two officers said.
After several phone calls to some friends, the Officers acquired a new refrigerator and some groceries for Valencia.
“A blessing to you, I told (the officers) that may god bless them, and I am very grateful,” Valencia said.