Act of Kindness By Falmouth Detective Leads to Surprise Visit to Police Station

You never know what one kind gesture might lead to.

For Detective Mat Yeaton, that act of kindness led to a surprise visit Wednesday afternoon. First let's back up. Yes, it's Mat with one 't'. He says it's because his mom wanted him to get the easiest question on the SATs wrong!

So, for background, Detective Yeaton decided while in line at Dunkin' to pay for the car behind him. That chain of pay it forward made it to me (yes, I kept it going) and the Dunkin' worker told me that 'the cop started it!' So, I put on my detective hat, tracked him down and wrote a story about how cool and nice that was.

Well, Dunkin' caught wind of Mat's kind act and got a hold of me for a surprise visit to the station to give Mat and the gang at the Falmouth Police Department some swag and coffee. For Mat - he got a YEAR OF FREE COFFEE, all courtesy of Dunkin'. So, this was all set up to be a surprise. Chief John Kilbride called Mat into his office around 130 Wednesday afternoon to 'go over' something. Det. Yeaton could not figure out what was going on and thought he was in trouble - especially when he was led outside! That's where his co-workers, Kevin Gove from Rinck Advertising (with the Dunkin' goodies) and I were all standing.

We let him off the hook pretty quickly, and thanked him for that random act of kindness and wanted to let him know that it was appreciated. The whole department was so happy for him.

Mat wasn't done with his kindness and sent an email to my boss:

Good Afternoon Ms. Sieks –

First, my apologies for the informality of this email, but I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your local morning show at WJBQ . This past Monday (9/27/21), morning show host Lori Voornas,  wrote a story about a Detective that happened to pay it forward while in the line at the Dunkin on Route 1 in Falmouth on Saturday morning. As it would turn out, that Detective was me! How they figured that out, I will never know (so much for unmarked cars!)! Either way, I am grateful and humbled by the positive response from Town Square Media, WJBQ, the Wolak Group as well as Dunkin.

On Saturday morning it was not my intention to spark any chain of generosity or to gain attention for the agency or my profession. My intention however, was to try and put a smile on the face of a stranger. I have had the good fortune to meet some fantastic people in my life that have inspired me to become a better Police Officer, Detective, Father, Husband, Friend and human being. I will never be a philanthropist and have my name on a building, stadium or anything of the sort, but if given a chance to brighten someone’s day, I will take that opportunity! Some may say that a cup or coffee, sandwich or a grocery bill may not be much or worthy of such attention, and that could be true and it’s the anonymity that often times is the best part. With that said, it was said to me long ago by my Grandfather, that being nice doesn’t cost anything and that you will never know what people may be going through and that a simple act of kindness could change the outcome of someone’s day.  In today’s climate I am glad to see that there are people out there that still believe in this philosophy and that Saturday’s events inspired others to put smiles on the faces of strangers!

Again, thank you very much for your generosity and please extend my sincere gratitude to Ms. Voornas for her recognition and using her platform to spread smiles!

Respectfully,

Mat

Ps. If you are ever looking for a new morning host, look me up!

Best way to spend an afternoon. Open door policy for Detective Mat Yeaton - I think he may take advantage of it!