CUMBERLAND – Residents have come together for a neighbor in need, raising funds to purchase him a replacement lawn mower.
John Pliakas Jr. and Craig Adams promoted an online GoFundMe fundraiser for a resident who lives at the corner of Lonesome Pine Road and Diamond Hill Road after someone stole the man’s mower.
The man is an Army veteran and 34-year retired town worker named Myles Molitor. He had put a sign out by the road in hopes that the person who took it would return it, they said.
Adams said he’d initially decided to try to help get the mower back, but it didn’t take long for him to think of a better and more hopeful solution of buying a new one. Pliakas had offered to do Molitor’s yard for him, but Molitor had declined. Adams then enlisted the help of Pliakas, who is more tech-savvy, to start up the fundraiser.
Adams said he’s delivered free firewood to Molitor for a while, firmly believing that anyone who served their town and country, or who is elderly, should never be left out.
The $715 raised as of Saturday from 24 total donors will purchase a new self-propelled electric mower. That way, Molitor won’t need gas, oil, or spark plug replacements.
When they visited him to tell him about the bag mower, said Adams, Molitor cried and said he wanted the names of everyone who donated so he can personally thank them.
There’s a lot of crap in the news these days, says Adams, and beautiful stories of hope are more needed than ever.
“This was jus two local Cumberland people who came together and the town stood together and did what was right,” he said of raising $700 in about two hours. “It was a Hallmark moment.”
