Thursday, September 04, 2008

Day of Caring

Today was the United Way Day of Caring. My department participates in this every year, and it's a good experience for everyone.

This year, our assignment was for an elderly lady who needed yard work done... BADLY.

It took over 100 people 4+ hours to mow, trim, prune, haul, and paint. We filled up 5 community-size dumpsters to overflowing. Her house looked GREAT when we were all done with it. She cried with happiness at how beautiful her home looked.

The sad part? I noticed that all the neighbors in her circle had beautiful yards-- carefully manicured lawns, flowers, landscaping, the whole nine yards.

Why would neighbors allow an elderly lady to accumulate 30+ years of growth on her property, and not help her out? Her lawn was over a foot tall, for crying out loud. Not even a simple lawn mowing, folks?

3 comments:

Jen - Queen of Poo said...

Neighborhoods are not what they used to be. Most often neighbors don't even know each other anymore. Neighborhoods aren't communities anymore. It's sad, really.

Anonymous said...

Because people are like dogs that are trained with treats. If there's no reward in it, they won't do it. And the only good reward, is a green reward. (And I don't mean nicely cut grass.) What a wonderful gift you all gave her. Too bad her neighbors can't find out how those kinds of gifts go both ways--heart to heart.

GreenJello said...

This was a good reminder to me that I need to be more aware of who is around me that needs some help or support. We're not alone in this world, and we shouldn't act like it.