When 85-year-old Nana Abernathy picked up the phone and called a tree removal company in North Carolina, she was not looking for a miracle. She just needed firewood.
She told them she was out of wood, had recently lost her husband, and that her Social Security check was not coming until the following week. She could not afford to pay.
The call reached Paul Brittain, owner of Brittain’s Tree and Crane Services.
He loaded up the firewood and delivered it himself at no charge.
He gave Abernathy a hug and headed out.
But he could not stop thinking about her.
So he went back. Over the following days,
Brittain and his crew fixed her leaking roof, repaired her heating and air conditioning unit, and put brand new tires on her car.
All of it was free.
Then he set up a GoFundMe page and shared her story. The response was overwhelming.
More than $20,000 was raised in time for Christmas.
To this day, Paul Brittain still maintains Nana Abernathy’s property at no charge.
He checks on her every single week, just to make sure she is okay.
“We got a call from an 85-year-old lady,” Brittain said in a video he posted online.
“She’s out of firewood, she’s down on her luck, she lost her husband. Little does she know, we ain’t gonna charge her” 💛
The free firewood was beautiful. Going back again and again, fixing things and checking on her every week? That’s the part that got me. 💛
(Source: Brittain’s Tree and Crane Services / GoFundMe