City of Manassas, VA. – Recently, the Neighborhood Services team discovered that there was a lady in her mid 80s who needed help in her yard with overgrown bushes and an old tool shed. This resident, who had located in the City in the mid 1950s, had lost her husband of 66 years just a few months prior. She was overwhelmed with the work the yard required and knew that it would take her son many months to make a dent in the project.
Neighborhood Services facilitated recruiting volunteers from the Life Church on Balls Ford Road, and on a Saturday morning, just 3 months and a day after her husband’s passing, a crew of more than 50 showed up to work in the yard. The group pruned bushes, tore down the old shed, erected a new shed the family provided, and hauled more than 8 truck loads of debris from the yard. The family worked alongside the volunteers and accomplished in a day what would have taken the family a long time and a great deal of effort. The family provided lunch for the crew and a great deal of gratitude.
“That’s what we are here to do,” said Neighborhood Services Manager Kisha Wilson-Sogunro. “We facilitate neighbors in their time of need. This is what community building is all about.”
