LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Electrician saw a client's house in disrepair. He called friends and they're fixing it for free.
Gloria Scott decided it was time to call an electrician in early August after she flipped on a light switch in her kitchen and sparks flew out of an overhead fixture, tripping her circuit breaker.
“My house was in such disrepair — I knew it was bad and I thought I'd be spending some time in darkness,” she said.
Electrician John Kinney fixed the problem and got her lights working again. But when he returned to his own home that weekend, he said he couldn't stop thinking about Scott, 72, living with her dog in her dilapidated house in Woburn, Mass., a suburban working-class community just outside Boston.
“She reminded me of my nana, who passed away 10 years ago,” said Kinney, 37, who runs Kinney Electric. “It made me sad to think of her sitting alone in a house that needed so many repairs. Her wiring was in bad shape and there were extension cords everywhere. I really worried about her safety.”
The following Monday, Kinney returned to Scott's home with an offer.
“I have a lot of friends — how about if I put together a group to come over and help you fix things up around here?” he recalled telling her. “There will be no cost to you whatsoever.”
Scott agreed, Kinney said, so that afternoon, he posted about her on his Facebook page and soon had two dozen volunteers lined up.
While cleaning up Scott's yard and organizing things inside her house, he and the crew noticed she had no hot water coming out of her faucets because of faulty plumbing.
Kinney also discovered her kitchen sink was broken, the ceilings were full of holes, the back porch had fallen in and the house needed new rain gutters, drywall and paint.
Scott had moved into the two-bedroom, one-bath home in the 1960s with her parents after her marriage ended. She worked as an office assistant and later retired. She had fallen behind on repairs after both parents died about a decade ago, he said.
It was then that Kinney decided to start a new Facebook page called “A Nice Old Lady Needs Help” and raise funds for the repairs. It raised nearly US$115,000 in less than a month, he said, and the campaign now has a new name: “Gloria's Gladiators.”
“We were hoping to inspire others and that's exactly what is happening,” said Kinney, noting the Gloria's Gladiators group has more than 15,000 members — many of whom were inspired by Scott's story to begin doing free home repairs in their neighbourhoods.
“It's really lifting people up, so I want to keep the good work going,” Kinney said. “Right now, this is bigger than me.”
“Gladiators” from coast to coast are now posting about their own chain-reaction volunteer efforts and acts of kindness on Kinney's group page:
“I live in South Carolina but would love to provide food for you wonderful people,” one woman wrote. “Is there a schedule? How many would I need to feed? I was thinking I could contact a local restaurant to have it delivered. You are restoring my faith in humanity!”
The help includes a rotating crew of landscapers, plumbers, carpenters and brick layers who are remodelling her house, Kinney said, with a goal of having everything finished by the end of November.
Businesses in the community have contributed building supplies, while people without construction experience have pitched in to keep crews fed, he said.
Cathy Bryant, 63, is among those
who have dropped off sandwiches and drinks, and she's now stitching a quilt for Scott to help keep her cosy this winter.
“I asked everybody who's pitching in to give me a T-shirt with their business logo on it, and I'm going to sew them all together,” Bryant said. “This has been a heartwarming experience for the whole town.”
“Gloria's in seventh heaven and seems at a loss for words about what we're doing,” said Rick Caillouette, 58, a carpenter who volunteered to be the project manager for Scott's remodel. “She's gone from living alone to having a bunch of new friends.”
When Kinney knocked on Scott's door several days after fixing her faulty light switch, Kinney said she felt so thankful for his offer to help that she was speechless.
“If John Kinney hadn't come into my life, I'd pretty much still be living in darkness,” she said. “You can't imagine what it's like unless you've gone through it. He's just so giving — they all are.”
Kinney said he's thankful for the opportunity to repair Scott's home, but there is something else that has also brought him joy.
“We've opened up Gloria's world,” he said. “Now, I hope we can do the same for all of the other Glorias out there. Nobody should have to go through life alone.”