Retired teacher Anne Glancey lived in her historic Hamilton, New Jersey home since she was a child and wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.
Her home, however, had fallen into disrepair.
The elderly woman couldn’t afford to keep up with the peeling paint, tall grass, or the abandoned car on her property.
Her neighbors Adam and Kristin Polhemus had offered to help her out over the years but Glancey, who is more than 60-years-old, never took them up on their offer.
“But every time we brought up repairs, she would change the subject,” Adam Polhemus told People.
The day eventually came when Glancey had no choice but to rely on the kindness of those in her community.
Hamilton’s new Neighborhood Improvement Program started their business of forcing neighbors to improve their properties and told Glancey she would have to pay $3,000 if she didn’t fix up her home.
The Polhemus’ made good on their promise to help Glancey and put out a call on Facebook asking for people to help with the repairs on Glancey’s home.
Before they knew it more than 25 volunteers were at Glancey’s home over the course of several weekends making repairs with supplies they purchased themselves in order to fix the chipped paint, the porch, and improve the landscaping. They also removed the car and donated it to charity.
Glancey would have had to spend thousands on the repairs herself, but her neighbors footed the entire bill and cleared away all her violations.
“I’m grateful for their helpfulness, generosity and caring… They’re good neighbors,” Glancey told the Huffington Post.
Adam Polhemus estimates the repairs would have cost between $10,000 to $15,000.
“To have people show up because it’s in their heart to do that to be there and help a complete stranger, that’s truly remarkable,” Adam Polhemus said.
Prior to this event, Glancey had lived a socially isolated life and didn’t interact with her neighbors before the Polhemus’ moved in five years prior.
“Until my wife and I moved in, no neighbors had a conversation with her,” Adam Polhemus said. “She had no relations with anyone in the neighborhood.”
Once the Polhemus’ moved in they would stop by to chat with Glancey just about every day.
So, it was a great pleasure for Glancey to meet her other neighbors and see that they cared for her, even if they didn’t know her.
“To see the joy on our neighbor’s face, I think the biggest thing is Anne’s happiness and her kind of restored life,” Adam Polhemus told People. “Her outgoingness to other neighbors is based on her house being improved.”
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