Lopping and helping one another

I was walking by Richmond Elementary School just now. Kids playing, sun shining, laughter in the air. If you need a reminder of something good in the world – walk by a playground full of kids. Across the street a woman who I’ve met before stood in her driveway – sweating and doing some yard work. We got to talking about the amazing tree she has that drapes across her garage. She mentioned it needed trimming and I offered to lop it some. Lop, lop, lop, lop and a few minutes later she can walk under the tree without getting bopped so much.

I’ve been wanting to write something about home preservation – and how we might aid people whose homes need a hand, but perhaps they can’t manage it anymore. I don’t have an exact solution – but what would it look like if everyone who was able dedicated 30 minutes a week to working on someone else’s yard/house? Or, just walked the street trimming bushes/trees (while asking permission) to clear the sidewalks so they are passable, and signs remain visible. I know these folks are working on developing a model like this. https://www.eastsidevillage.org/ – but perhaps there’s something easy we could do.

In this vein, I imagine we could create some sort of matching service for people with pets that need walking + those who can’t walk them anymore, but love having pets at home + can’t afford to pay someone to walk their pets. Ideas welcome.