Posted on Sunday, May 1, 2011 by
Michael •
Dear Neighbors: My husband and I had to evacuate our home on the lake shore yesterday (Friday) morning, not a simple matter with me in a wheelchair. We woke up to water that was 20 inches deep on the road and our plumbing stopped working. Our truck, already on high ground up the road, could not get to us, so my husband called the owner of the local hardware store for help… what a wonderful man! He came with terrific two men and, along with our neighbor (another wonderful man), they set up ramps to get me and my chair out onto our rolling aluminum dock. Then, they rolled me and the dock up the road to neighbors on dry land and set up ramps again. I rolled off onto the neighbors’ driveway. Thank goodness no one had a camera! And, thank goodness we live in such a wonderful town, where neighbors watch out for one another.
Lakeside communities in Vermont are struggling now… recording-breaking lake levels, flooding, pounding waves… awful. The note above appeared on the South Hero Front Porch Forum today. It provides evidence of how neighbors rally during crisis to help each other.
Posted in: Civic Engagement, Community Building, e-Vermont, Front Porch Forum, Local Online, MacArthur Fellows, Neighborhood, social capital, Social Networking, Stories, Vermont