The world may be on pause right now, but that doesn’t mean that work has been on hold for everyone. Essential workers like garbage men are still making the rounds and keeping neighborhoods clean every day. Everything has been pretty normal for the most part, but one garbage noticed that one resident’s living situation was a bit strange.
Jake Bland of Louisville, KY’s Hometown Hauling recently noticed something was strange. One woman in the neighborhood hadn’t taken out any trash in over two weeks. This was a sign that something was wrong.
So instead of ignoring a seemingly small thing, Bland — who is the company’s operations manager –decided to take action and asked dispatch to call the woman.
Soon, the team learned that the woman was 90-years-old and sadly, she did not have any trash because she did not have any food to eat. She had been living off of old food in her home for weeks because of Covid-19.
She had no way to go out and get more food during the pandemic — and she was running out.
“She just didn’t have nothing to eat,” Bernice Arthur, who reached out to the customer, said. “And that’s why she had no trash to put out there.”
After Hometown Hauling learned that the woman was officially running out of food, they decided to step in and help.
“She has no family, nobody,” Arthur told WDRB. “I said, ‘You do have a family now.'”
So they compiled a list of essential groceries, went shopping, and hand-delivered them to the elderly woman, who they call Mrs. W. They even paid for all of it.
This also proves that you just can’t ever fully know what is going on in each area. This was in a nice neighborhood, not really known for food shortages, yet this woman really turned out to be struggling. You can’t ever assume everyone is fine and well off on their own — especially now.
It took Bland’s awareness to even realize what was going on. As you can imagine, most of Mrs. W’s neighbors were probably not paying attention to her empty trash cans.
“It was even in a nice neighborhood,” Bland added. “You never know what’s going on in your neighbor’s house.”
Mrs. W isn’t the only person who is struggling during the pandemic either. Many elderly people have not been able to leave their homes to buy groceries. Some of them have friends and/or family who can retrieve food for them, but not everyone can be so lucky.
Mrs. W sadly did not have anyone to go to for help. In situations like this, it is sometimes really hard to ask for help too.
“Had we not reached out to her — she wasn’t reaching out to anyone,” Arthur added. “It taught me, regardless, check on them. Put something on their porch. Let them know.”
Let this be a lesson to always check in on your neighbors, even if you think they are doing fine. You never truly know!
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