“How Wonderful this Community Can Be Thanks to the Kindness of People”

Ever wonder what you can do to make a better community? It’s easy! Just follow the lead from this story from Jim Farrell, a resident of a Westlake senior facility who wanted to go to the Clague Park fireworks the 4th of July with two friends:

“My two friends, Ellie Schramm and Anna Mae Stockard and myself wanted to go to the fireworks at Clague Park.

“We thought if we left about 6 o’clock we’d find a parking spot.

‘Well, when we got there everything was taken, they parked along the street. If we’d have found a parking spot, we probably would have had a mile to walk. But two of us were with canes and one with a walker. There was no way we were going to able to walk.

‘So I’m driving around and I found a place where you could get off the street and walk down a little aisle way and you’re in the park. I pulled into a driveway (all the driveways were empty), and I went to the door and I asked the lady if she’d mind if we parked there. She said, “No, that’s fine.” I offered to pay her but again she said, “ No, that’s all right.”. I had explained to her the situation that there were two of us with canes and one of us with a walker. So I said, “Can I leave my key in cause you might have to move my car? She said, “No, we’re not going anyplace.”

‘So from there, we walked through this little alleyway into the park and we went to a picnic table and we were sitting there. We got a little bit anxious because by 9:30 they hadn’t started any fireworks.

‘We’re saying, “maybe they’ve been called off or something.” But at 10 o’clock they started. It was great! We had a great time! We couldn’t have picked a better spot. It was right there, we saw everything really good.

‘But now it’s dark out. We didn’t really think about that at the time. But it’s a whole lot different at night. You could trip real easy or something like that. So we started walking.

‘And this lady pulled up in a car. There were about 3 people in the car. She said, “If you want, I will take this lady (in the car) to her car and I will come back and get you.”

‘And then – here’s the thing – they opened the trunk and pulled out three folding chairs and they put them up for us to sit in while we’re waiting! There was one lady who stayed there with us – she had a little baby with her.

‘The lady came back and loaded us in her car and took us back to our car. So we just got to thinking that so many nice things happened that you couldn’t foresee.

‘People were so helpful. We got there and enjoyed the fireworks. And with the help of other people, we had a very, very enjoyable evening. It was just a great evening, and we just wanted to tell everybody how wonderful this community can be thanks to the kindness of people.”

(John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”