Jake Bland, who is working at Hometown Hauling, a garbage collection service in Louisville, Kentucky noticed an elderly woman hadn’t put out trash in more than two weeks. He knew something was wrong. Bland, the company’s operations manager asked dispatch to contact the customer.
Bernice Arthur immediately called the woman and what she learned about the 90-year-old was heartbreaking.
“She just didn’t have nothing to eat,” Arthur said, “and that’s why she had no trash to put out there.”
For more than two weeks, the elderly woman had no way to leave her home or get groceries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was running out of food.
The Hometown Hauling decided to help her after learning her situation.
“She has no family, nobody,” Arthur said. “I said, ‘You do have a family now’.”
Bland helped make a list of groceries. He went for shopping and delivered the groceries to the elderly woman.
“It was even in a nice neighborhood,” Bland said. “You never know what’s going on in your neighbor’s house.”
Bland and Arthur hope their story serves as a reminder to check on loved ones in any way possible.
“Had we not reached out to her — she wasn’t reaching out to anyone,” Arthur said. “It taught me, regardless, check on them. Put something on their porch. Let them know.”
