Landscaper Raises Nearly More Than $800K For An Elderly Woman In Need After Cleaning Up Her Yard For Free
It's a testament to the power of sticking together.
Ground Picture | Shutterstock "We have to stick together" has become something of a cliche, but in these times, it's far more literal than figurative. A Kansas landscaping company has gone viral showing just how important this is and the impact it can make on the people around us.
Landscaping company SB Mowing raised more than $800k for an elderly woman in need.
SB Mowing, a landscaping company in Wichita, has become wildly popular on TikTok for the satisfying time-lapse videos its owner, Spencer, posts of the landscaping work he does at homes in the area.
But Spencer's account, and Spencer himself, have become even more beloved for the other types of videos he does — ones in which he helps people in need by cleaning up their yards for free. That's what he did for Beth, an elderly lady in a nearby city who was unable to keep up with her yard work. However, that ended up being the very least of what Spencer did for her.
Beth was about to be fined by her city for her unkempt yard after she was unable to find anyone to help.
Right from the start, Spencer's videos about Beth yanked at your heartstrings. Elderly, frail, and mobile-only with the help of canes and walkers, Beth was so embarrassed by the state of her yard and her inability to keep up with it that she apologized to Spencer for the state of things.
She then told him she'd tried and tried to get help, but she couldn't get anyone to answer the phone, and when they did, they'd end up not showing up. Her city finally gave her a deadline and told her she'd be fined $240 if she didn't meet it.
That's where Spencer came in after an official from the city asked if he'd help Beth. Her reaction to all of the work he put in — mowing her grass, clearing away bushes, cutting out overgrown plants sprouting from the cracks in her driveway — is what really gave a glimpse into just how challenging her life had become.
Upon seeing the job, she burst into tears, and when Spencer told her he was "happy" to do it, she replied, "No one's been happy to help me. Thank you, sweetheart."
Spencer started a fundraiser for Beth to make her home more accessible.
After her video went viral, Spencer quickly got to work using the attention for good. He returned to Beth's home to check in on her and found out about other challenges she lives with, like how she relies on her neighbors to come by once a month to do her laundry because she can no longer get up and down the stairs to her basement, where her washer and dryer are kept.
So he decided to set up a GoFundMe to transform her home. In the campaign, he asked for $100,000 so that he could build a ramp to her door so she wouldn't have to deal with stairs, a new driveway free of hazardous cracks, and a chair lift to get her up and down from her washing machine.
Yard maintenance was also on the list — Beth lives just a bit too far from SB Mowing for Spencer to manage it himself. He also listed a few things he'd do "if funds allow," like fixing broken windows in her home and getting her a new bed that would be easier for her to get in and out of. That "if funds allow" part ended up being completely unnecessary.
"What goes around does come around," Beth said through tears, explaining that she's always tried to help others throughout her life. "So you've been helping them out all this time, and now… people are gonna be able to help you out," Spencer told her. But nobody expected just how much he'd be able to give.
Spencer's online community raised more than $800,000 dollars for Beth.
After seeing Beth's story, the internet basically laughed in the face of a mere $100,000. In just 24 hours, Spencer had raised nearly half a million bucks for the sweet, frail old woman who'd capture everyone's hearts.
As bowled over as Beth was by everything he'd already done, it was nothing compared to finding out that complete strangers had donated that kind of money to help transform her life. "There's no fire here!" she joked. "But there's you," Spencer replied.
"I never expected help ever, ever, ever," Beth said through tears. "Thank you so very much." But $500,000 was only the beginning — as of this writing, Spencer's GoFundMe has raised more than $868,000 and counting. Spencer said he has also contacted an attorney to place the money in a trust to ensure it stays safe for Beth.
The United States does a frankly terrible job of caring for its senior citizens. Nearly 1 in 3 American seniors live below the poverty line, and with the staggering costs of basic medical care, let alone long-term care, an unconscionable number of elderly people are in situations similar to Beth's.
This makes what Spencer and his followers were able to do for Beth all the more important — we must stick together and help each other whenever and wherever we can.
"You work your whole life and you don't ever expect anything like this. You never even think about it — that happens to other people, not to me," Beth tearfully told him when he revealed all the ways he was going to be able to change her life. "All my prayers worked."
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.