Neighborhood improvement

Neighbor is first then blood relation.

Neighbors are our social life part can't live without them.

A Neighbor to admire

In my neighborhood, there was an older couple that lit up the community. As we grew up they always had cold drinks for the children for the summer and in the winter we shoveled their walk and driveway for nothing more than Doris’s (the wife) famous hot chocolate. The husband, whom of which was a veteran of Vietnam, would help us fix our bikes if our parents were at work. Mr. Frank was the kind of gentleman that would lecture us if he caught us acting up, but was the first one to congratulate us on our victories. His love, dedication, honor, and caring demeanor inspired many of us to join the military branches.

Unfortunately, prostate cancer claimed the life of Mr. Frank. I received the news while stationed in Iraq, and my heart wept for Doris. They were not only Husband and Wife, but they were best friends. When they disagreed on some topics, they settled it with rock, paper, scissors. The one that lost had 30 min to come up with a joke to attempt a “rebuttal”. It was the type of marriage we all want.

A couple years go by:

During the next couple of years, I check in on Ms Doris frequently to see if she needs help. Sometimes she accepts small favors, but always wanted to help others rather then be helped herself.

One weekend I made the two hour drive to visit her, when I arrived I noticed she was drentched in sweat and sitting on her porch. When I got closer, I could see she had been crying as well. Come to find out her AC window unit (she only had one working unit left) had broken after several years and she did not know what to do. This is when I found out that since the passing of Mr Frank, not only had the upkeep of the home suffered. But also, Ms Doris was on a very strict budget, due to medical bills and burial of Mr Frank.

I went out, bought three units and installed them while my wife took Ms Doris to lunch. She was very happy when she returned, but there was an issue. While I was placing the window units in place, I noticed the window sills had begun to rot. That is when I noticed a hole in the roof that had been leaking within the walls.

You can join us

Sometimes we all need a little help, sometimes we need a lot of help. It I started with helping one person repair a window, that window became a frame, the frame became a wall, Doris needed a miracle