need to know
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In December 2025, a Syracuse police officer gave a woman a ride while shopping for groceries.
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After photos of the encounter spread online, officers learned the woman had been sleeping on her husband’s grave for months
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Determined to help, the officer managed to raise funds for the widow and even found her a safe, warm home as winter temperatures dropped
A chance encounter between a Syracuse Police Department officer and a woman hauling groceries became a lifeline after months of homelessness.
On Dec. 13, 2025, Officer Jamie Pastorello, 33, was parked in his patrol car when he noticed Rhea Holmes trudging up a hill carrying a box of groceries and offered her a ride. “I thought, ‘I have to give this lady a ride,'” Pastorello told TODAY.com.
Holmes, 55, revealed she was heading to a cemetery in Syracuse, New York, where her husband is buried. During the short drive, she talked about her 26-year marriage and her faith, and thanked him multiple times for stopping to help.
Syracuse Police Department
Before getting out of the car, Holmes asked Pastorello to take a photo with her. The department later posted the photo on Facebook days before Christmas, saying it was a moment of kindness during the holiday season. The post went viral and even reached a maintenance worker at the cemetery, who recognized Holmes and contacted authorities about the incident.
The worker said he had seen Holmes regularly since the summer and believed she had been sleeping in the cemetery, often on her husband’s grave. This information shocked Pastorello. “We deal with homelessness every day,” he said. “She showed no signs.”
It turns out that Holmes had been living at the cemetery for about eight months, near the graves of her husband and father. She slept on a tarp spread over her husband’s grave, wore “the same clothes every day” and kept a limited supply of groceries nearby.
She avoided drawing attention to herself and never asked for help. “I never thought I would be in that situation,” Holmes told TODAY.com. “Not in a million years.”
Before losing her housing, Holmes worked as an administrative assistant. Her husband, the Rev. Eddie Holmes, is a pastor and musician who also works as a security guard. In 2020, he died suddenly of heart disease at the age of 69.
After his death, Rhea fell into grief, lost her job and was eventually evicted. She avoided shelters because she felt safer on her own — spending cold winter nights outdoors and using nearby campus bathrooms to maintain basic hygiene.
Despite her difficult circumstances, she continued to volunteer at food pantries and churches. “I just keep giving to people,” Rhea said. “It’s the only way I can keep going.”
Rhea said she believes her faith led her to Pastorello. “God put Jamie there,” she stressed. “He knew I needed help and directed me to him.”
After fully understanding Rhea’s situation, Pastorello helped find temporary housing for Rhea and started a GoFundMe that raised more than $27,000 for her.
“Rhea, you can’t sleep outside anymore. I won’t let that happen,” he told her.
She later contacted a local organization that provides self-contained tiny homes to those in need, and moved into a self-contained unit on January 5, 2026.
During the recent snowstorm, which saw temperatures in Syracuse drop well below freezing, Rhea stayed safely indoors. “I knew I wasn’t going to make it,” she told TODAY.com. “If that trip hadn’t happened… I don’t even want to imagine.”
More than a month after their first meeting, Pastorello said he and Rhea had become “good friends,” talking on the phone almost every day and meeting frequently for coffee.
“Sometimes it’s just about showing up,” Pastorello told TODAY. “One simple action at the right time can change everything.”
Read the original article on People