A friend in need

Last week I was out delivering yard signs to a few high visibility locations. I stopped at a retired couple's home in my neighborhood to plant a sign, when I encountered Norma struggling with a shovel trying to clear the ice from her sidewalk. She wasn't making much progress. I asked her what the heck she thought she was doing out there on the slippery ice. She informed me that her husband had fallen (on the ice) and possibly cracked a rib. She was taking him to the doctor later that day. "Give me the shovel Norma" I said with exasperation. It took me all of about 10 minutes to clear the walk. Norma marveled at how quickly I got under the ice and sent it flying. I explained to her I have a little bit more weight than her to put behind the shovel! I don't know what bothered me more. The fact that any able-bodied neighbor had not already helped them out, or that Norma was risking life and limb to clear a stupid walkway after the same activity had already injured her husband. My first home in Armour Hills taught me the importance of helping out your elderly neighbors. Across the street from me was Helen, a retired octogenarian who didn't own a car. In fact, she had never learned to drive! She was totally dependent on transit to run her errands. One time witnessing her struggling down an icy sidewalk convinced me that her walkways would always be cleared before mine. It took a few extra minutes out of my day. Not a big deal for me, but a huge deal to her. A lot of schools in the area require their students to perform a set number of community service hours. I think about Norma and the many others like her could benefit from a healthy young teenager dropping by every now and then for some heavy lifting, or just to say hello. The kids would get their service hour requirements filled, and our seniors would get much needed support. I know most people are prideful and wouldn't dream of signing up for such a program, but it wouldn't be difficult for neighbors to identify a friend in need and make suggested additions to a list. I think this is the kind of thing your elected leaders could facilitate. No cost to the taxpayers. Just a spreadsheet and a few hours a month in coordination. A volunteer could easily be found to do that. I'm sure there are programs in place already that attempt to accomplish the same thing, but as long as there are people like Norma without that kind of assistance, we need to keep trying to do better.