Taught a man to fish! True story

[benhogan]

Last Sunday's local paper (the Raleigh News and Observer) had this write up about this laid-off truck driver who has 3 kids. There was a picture of him raking leaves. Apparently, he's been doing yard work for money. The article mentioned that he wants to start his own landscaping company but does not have the capital to buy equipment.

So I emailed the writer of the article and said that I own a small engine repair shop and can probably donate some equipment to get this guy started. Well, she passed my message along and he called me back. I asked basic profiling questions to make sure he isn't scamming. He sounded legit so I decided to help him out.

I am giving him an Echo backpack blower so he can start blowing leaves for money. I threw in an Echo weedwacker as well. I told him he could probably charge $50 per job.

He was at a loss for words. He said he never thought someone would do something like this based on an newspaper write up.

It feels good to help a guy out. Instead of donating money to him so he can buy food for a day, I just gave him the means to feed himself!

Being in the small engine biz, people are always donating dead machines to me anyway. I currently have 5 backpack blowers, a few powerwashers, a few generators, etc anyway so donating a blower is no big deal. But it is a big deal for this guy! I told him that if his little biz takes off, in the spring, I would sell him a riding mower for cheap so he can really go into business full time.

We'll see where this road leads! He is coming over today to pick up the stuff.