I’ve lived next door to Mrs. D for over 10 years. She’s in her 70s, kind as can be, and always kept to herself. After her husband passed last year, I started noticing the little things — the grass getting overgrown, the garage door never opening, stuff piling up by the back door.
It wasn’t that she didn’t care. It was that she just couldn’t keep up anymore.
I’d offered to help a few times, but you know how it is — people have pride. She always smiled and said she was “getting to it soon.”
Then I saw a post about something called The Junk Relief Project from Junk Removal John — a program where they clean out a property, for free, for someone in the community who needs it. No strings. Just helping out.
So I nominated her. Told them a little about her situation and what was going on. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if anything would come of it.
But a week later, their trailer showed up.
They didn’t just pick up a few bags and bounce. They brought a full crew, went room by room, cleared out the garage, hauled away broken furniture, even swept up after themselves. Mrs. D was in tears. So was I, honestly.
They treated her with total respect. No pity, no awkwardness — just good people doing something decent.
She told me later that it felt like she could finally breathe again.
That it was the first time in months she felt like things might be okay.
I’m not the type to write stuff like this, but I wanted to share it in case anyone else has a neighbor like mine — someone quiet, kind, and quietly overwhelmed.
If you do, nominate them. You have no idea how much it could mean.