Neighbors Helping Neighbors In A Time Of Need
When all seems lost, look for the helpers. Here are some inspiring stories that are restoring faith in humanity.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers
There are two very distinct reaction to the apocalyptic fires raging in the Los Angeles area: The first is the moving care and support as neighbors help neighbors, including our neighbors Mexico and Canada. The second comes from political leaders and media figures who seek to divide us, from them we hear constant blame, misinformation, disinformation, and we see at best an unwillingness to help, and at worst calls to stop aid to the area.
I’ve pulled out a few of the incredible stories of neighbors helping neighbors to share, because they demonstrate the strength in our communities that we can rely upon and help grow as the incoming president brings his incessant division.
We have the power to say no to MAGA’s cynical and corrupt way of seeing the world as a pile of finite resources to steal and hoard.
Helpers Are Everywhere
The feeling we get when a neighbor helps us is profound, as these stories demonstrate.
“I never realized how loved we were by our community, and it’s just been overwhelming to see people help us,” Giorgi Antinori told CNN Saturday night after friends and loved offered them a place to stay after she and her husband Leonardo Antinori lost their home in Palisades Bowl, a mobile home community, to the Palisades fire. They lost everything, including the cremains of their late daughter, who had died as a baby more than a decade ago.
As private boarding places were charging top dollar to house displaced pets, the Equestrian Center decided to house four-legged evacuees for free, with General Manager Leigh Ann Claywell telling CNN, “Their owners lost everything, we can’t make a can’t make a profit off of that.”
It is no small act of kindness, with “408 horses brought to the center, there are a couple of cows, a few pigs, some sheep and two donkeys, in addition to the 437 horses already stabled at the facility.”
Bechir Sylvain, who had just been evacuated, showed up to help, telling CNN, “I hate the fact that we are all going through this thing right now but it’s great to see how Los Angeles is coming together.”
A veterinarians turned her old animal hospital into a temporary shelter for displaced pets. “I looked around and was like, ‘There’s going to be other people that need help, and we have all this empty space. Let’s use it,’” said Annie Harvilicz, who also runs a nonprofit called the Animal Wellness Foundation.
“I am happy to house any animals that need to be evacuated. If you know anyone who needs to leave and doesn’t have a place for their pets please have them email me,” she wrote on social media Tuesday morning. “
If anyone got any burns or smoke inhalation, we can take care of them,” she told the Washington Post. “Come to us if you need help with your animal.”
Harvilicz’s inbox began blowing up with hundreds of people volunteering to help her however they could.
“For every person who needed help, there were 50 people offering to help,” she said. “It brings tears to my eyes.”
The Palisade’s home of a family with both homeowners out of town was burning down as they were desperately trying to get someone to rescue their three dogs, who were trapped in their home. Their dogsitter was trapped on the roads leading to their house. The homeowner saw a CBS reporter near their home, and ended up getting the attention of CBS, and yes… a CBS news crew saved all three rescue dogs from the burning home.
"I have never felt that mixture of joy and relief and exhaustion and despair and gratitude towards someone," homeowner Andrea Pasinetti told CBS. "The generosity and kindness and risk that they put themselves through to get the dogs was really — I think it's the best that humanity has to offer.”
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