Officer helps with free umbrellas on rainy Thanksgiving

A police officer at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor spent part of Thanksgiving handing out umbrellas to people walking in the rain.

His family called it the Puget Sound Umbrella Challenge.

“It’s amazing how many people are walking around in the rain,” Allen said. “It’s the greatest thing when you hand them that umbrella.

“Things seem to look up, even if it’s only temporary, but it’s a start, and they feel good for a minute.

A short video shows Allen, who wasn’t in his patrol car at the time, stopping a man walking down the street in a hooded sweatshirt.

“I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving man,” he said. “And try to stay dry.”

“Thank you very much” the man responded.

Allen started by buying all the $3 umbrellas at a local Walmart. He said his daughter was the one who had the idea.

Shortly before noon on Thanksgiving, Allen was looking for more umbrellas after he and his daughter purchased all the ones from Walmart.

Allen, who served in the Army and also worked with the State Department in Afghanistan, made headlines before for a similar good deed.

In July 2015, the father of three stopped a woman for expired license plates. The woman was 38-weeks pregnant and had difficulty putting on the plates. Rather than giving her a ticket, he helped replace the plates.

A photo the woman took went viral, reaching more than 3 million people on Facebook in the days after.

“Today you don't hear about the officers who actually do good, but I wanted to be one of the people to give credit when it's due,” that woman, Amby Johnson, told KIRO 7 at the time.

Johnson, who was discouraged by how some commenters made race a factor in responding to that story, said she hoped people saw that story for what it was: “A good officer helping out a woman. No race.”

Allen, whose job as an officer is part of the Department of Defense, said he sees kind acts all the time by dedicated officers.

"I truly believe that if you're coming into this line of work it's because you want to make a difference," Allen said previously. "You want to work in your community to make it a better place."

Cox Media Group