ABOVE: A community responds after an 81-year-old veteran calls 911 to ask for food
TORONTO – An 81-year-old U.S. Army veteran was forced to call 911 earlier this week after returning from months in the hospital to find his house devoid of food.
His request? Could the 911 operator please bring him some groceries, as his cancer treatments had left him too weak to move.
“What I need is someone to get to the store and bring me some food because I have to eat something,” Fayetteville, North Carolina resident Clarence Blackmon told the 911 operator.
“I can’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t get out of my damn chair.”
The woman on the other end of the line was 911 operator Marilyn Hinson, who said she was touched by the U.S. Army veteran’s desperate plight.
“He was hungry,” Hinson told ABC News-11. “I’ve been hungry. A lot of people can’t say that, but I can, and I can’t stand for anyone to be hungry.”
On the call, Blackmon calmly explains that while he is “not imperiled upon life or limb,” he says he “needs to eat something,” and that it took much of his strength just to make the phone call.
LISTEN: Full audio of Clarence Blackmon’s 911 call
With the help of Fayetteville police officers, Hinson delivered the food to Blackmon in person later that same day.
“It was like a little miracle ringing in my ear,” Blackmon said. “I thought, ‘Jesus, you answered those prayers.'”
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And since Blackmon’s story was first reported, the outpouring of support from the Fayetteville community has been overwhelming. Local police say they’ve been flooded with calls asking how they can help the Army vet.
“We had numerous calls, emails, folks calling us directly, calling the call centre, calling 911 saying, ‘How can we help Mr. Blackmon,'” said Fayetteville police officer Antoine Kincade.
According to local media, a personal support worker will now be visiting Blackmon twice a week to make sure his cupboards and fridge are well stocked.
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