down on his luck

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argus66

argus66

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Dec 9, 2007
465
central coastal nj
i have a friend of mine i haven't seen in a while who lives a few towns over, i was over there today and thought id stop by, 2 yrs ago we put a great jotul insert in his fireplace. i talked him into it when i got my stove and he saw how great it was heating my house, long story short this guy lost his job recently and is badly handicap so he is having real tough time finding new job, gas has been turned off, along with electric. insert is literally keeping him alive!!! i talk to him on phone from time to time and had no idea about all of this (modest guy ) i showed up as he was literally burning he last piece of wood. house was freezing stove was covered in creosote cause some a++ hole wood dealer sold him green wood being he cant walk well he couldn't do much about it.... needless to say we got in my truck and brought back a cord of wood and 2 buckets enviro logs. and i cleaned his stove and pipe top to bottom, burning now like a champ. more wood on the way. give that stove or insert a little more love u never know when you'll really need it. its real sad this guy made 6 figures or more now next to nothing, times are tough.
 
That was a great gesture and shows how you value friends. Tough times mean we all should look over our shoulders and see who needs a hand.
 
ya gotta do what u gotta do, this guy helped me out of a few tight ones so u know.
 
No doubt...good show Argus. Wood and good friends are nice resources in tough times.
 
SolarAndWood said:
No doubt...good show Argus. Wood and good friends are nice resources in tough times.
Click to expand...

indeed they are.
your friend really should have put away some of that 6 figure salary while he was making it. but that is neither here nor there.
what you did for your friend was most certainly the right thing to do.
your friend needs you now more than ever. maybe not financialy but helping him and letting him know that you care can mean everything in the world to him
 
I'm surprised they shut off gas and electric. I didn't think they could do that at this time of the year because of people heating with them.

Good on ya for making him right with a little wood. What comes around goes around, something good will happen to you when you are in need.

Matt
 
That is a shame. I have been laid off for months. There are not many jobs out there, well that support a person. Even finding a part time job is rough these days. God has a funny way of helping people find each other when we need each other. My buddy helped me find a inexpensive stove to heat my family and save money this year. He even did most of the install for me. Now if I can just pay it back to someone else once I get back on my feet. I think if we all did that, the world might just be a little nicer to live in. It tough as hell as it is. Kudos to you Argus and God bless!
 
The kindest deed ever done for me and mine was to get me wood when I was down and out.

I had just lost the lease on a successful business I was running. While I was packing up my equipment and finding places to store it, I came down with a severe flu that went to worse with pneumonia setting it. I had gotten extremely dehydrated, and for some reason, I then experienced a bout of anorexia (or something like it... couldn't swallow anything for about three weeks). I subsisted on Gatorade for nutrition and got very weak and run down. I couldn't cut or split, and I was burning about 10-12 full cord of green hardwood/season in an enormous wood burning furnace with only electric resistance for backup (which I couldn't come close to affording since I had just lost my business), and I was down to my last face cord.

Back then, there were no laws preventing the power company from turning off your electric for non-payment. Things were looking pretty dark for me and my wife and our three little tykes. When my friend Jerry found out about my predicament (I was too proud to ask for help back then), he showed up with his truck, chains saws, sledges, wedges and a couple of friends. By the end of the day, they had filled the wood bin in the cellar (held about a cord and a half) with nice oak, maple and ash.

We lost Jerry about three years ago to an inoperable brain tumor (the guy went out without a whimper), and it was a great loss to the world IMO. I'll never forget how he came in to basically save our lives, but that's just the way Jerry was with everybody. Such a shame that he was cut down in his prime.

Anyway, kudos to you for being another Jerry. The world needs more of them.
 
Pictures or it never happened. (Just kidding.)

That's an awesome gesture. We all think it could never happen to us, but it can happen to anybody. Good lookin out. Live your life that way and it all comes back - when we least expect it.
 
Comes down to paying it forward. Help people now, and one day someone might help you. Not enough of that these days. Last year, my first day out cutting for the year, we only cut about 1/5 cord because we spent 7 hours pulling a truck and trailer outta one ugly predicament in the middle of nowhere. Six months later familly and I was at a restaurant, and I thought I saw the guy there. When we were done eating, the waitress came back with not the bill, but a note that said thanks for helping him out. Of course by then he was already gone...
 
You're a great friend. I feel so bad for your buddy I can't tell you. What line of work is your friend in? I'm also from Jersey and there is a program that he can get help to have his heat turned back on. It's called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). There is information and an application at this web site - (broken link removed to http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/dhcr/offices/hea.html). If he can get help to have his power turned back on they won't be able to shut him off again until after March 15th. They also have a low income weatherization program. When times are tough, don't be too proud to seek out these kinds of programs - after all we pay into these assistance programs through taxes and other charges on our utility bills.
 
Call it what you will . . . but I believe when you do a good deed it comes back to you oftentimes two-fold . . . and the same when you do something bad . . . bad things happen to folks who do bad things and good things tend to happen to folks who do good things. Good job on helping a friend in need.
 
firefighterjake said:
Call it what you will . . . but I believe when you do a good deed it comes back to you oftentimes two-fold . . . and the same when you do something bad . . . bad things happen to folks who do bad things and good things tend to happen to folks who do good things. Good job on helping a friend in need.
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Point taken, but lets take this a step further, you don't do good deeds expecting it to come back, you do them to help people out.
 
Lanning said:
firefighterjake said:
Call it what you will . . . but I believe when you do a good deed it comes back to you oftentimes two-fold . . . and the same when you do something bad . . . bad things happen to folks who do bad things and good things tend to happen to folks who do good things. Good job on helping a friend in need.
Click to expand...

Point taken, but lets take this a step further, you don't do good deeds expecting it to come back, you do them to help people out.
Click to expand...

Very true.
 
argus66, you did a very good thing and thank you for it. It is too bad more people don't help others... I just wish that guy was a bit closer as I would get him enough wood to get him through the winter. Dry, well seasoned wood too! But it would be a bit costly to ship it out there...
 
I've been off work for several years. Fortunately, we live on 12 acres with more than half of that wooded. My chainsaws keep us in heat. Along with our 102 yr. old neighbor lady. Along with helping another senior with the beetle killed trees that keep threatening his cottage. And so on.

But you have me beat. Good job there. Good luck to your friend. There is virtually no work here except that a service station/stop and shop just opened and wants people for min. wage and 10 hr. a week. Whoooppeee. Actually, I think they hired everyone they needed in about a half hour.

Luckily my wife still makes enough to scrape us by and we have no mortgage..... Many folks here are out of work and have been a long time.
 
I bet he didn't realize he had such a good friend.

To me, gestures like this are what the Christmas season should be about instead of getting a new flat screen / i-pod.


pen
 
ive made him aware that help is out there but u know how some guys are , always gotta do it on there own. lucky hasn't been to cold around here but that looks like its gonna change, we got him another cord tonight so hes good for a month or so. it was just so weird i showed up as he was literally burning his last log!!!!! i guess thats just how things go a higher power at work??? between us here on the site when he answered the door i thought i saw tears and it took him a while to answer. but we wont let that get out. i sealed up his attic stairs better and put some spray foam in some open holes. house was acutely warm when i left. insert was kicking ass.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
argus66, you did a very good thing and thank you for it. It is too bad more people don't help others... I just wish that guy was a bit closer as I would get him enough wood to get him through the winter. Dry, well seasoned wood too! But it would be a bit costly to ship it out there...
Click to expand...

Now, don't just use for initials. You know the lady down the street, always asking you to give a little to help the needy. Give her a call, and ask who needs firewood, some guy in New Jersey has you inspired..... Give a days worth, or so...... Even if it's not home inspired :cheese:
 
Kudos to you... I know that in the metal industries it has gotten awful.. first it was letting off sales managers and now regional managers.. everyone is tough because of the foreclosures of any business... It's tough for everyone right now...
 
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