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Sacramento Police Program Helps Stranded Family Return Home Safely After Scary Night

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A spur of the moment trip stranded a mother and other two children in Sacramento, but with the help of donations and a determined police officer, they are back home.

Ernestina Ortiz and her two small children are all smiles now, but it was a different story when Sacramento Police officer Edwin Nonog found them last week stranded at night in Downtown Sacramento.

"I felt like I had to do something, not as a police officer but as a person, here's a family that needed help," the father of five said.

The family had come from Washington State with a friend, but ran out of money and had no way to get home.

"I just couldn't bear the fact of them being on the streets," Nonog siad.

"I can't imagine sleeping on the streets with my kids," Ortiz said.

With the help of a fund called Sacramento Police Cares, Nonog was able to get them a hotel for the night and a train ticket home.

"Where I come from, our police departments up there don't do anything like that," Ortiz said.

"It feels really good to know that I've helped someone get home," Nonog said.

Sacramento Police Cares relies entirely on donations, and they've been able to help about 50 families in the past three years.

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