Lights On - $350 by Sept 24 - Lights On

I like that I can tell my favorite neighbor is other neighbors’ favorite neighbor, too.

I don’t like that I can tell my favorite neighbor is pressed today, and probably yesterday and tomorrow.

My neighbor is tireless. With affection, they punch into work like a heartbeat. The kind of steady where they always remember what to do, so the days line up and follow. That’s part of how they show up for everybody.

Then a medical mess cracked the body and the plans. The accounts drained. The backups went with them. They stretched every dollar and the long recovery summer stretched on. They got clever. The good news is the recovery is almost complete. The body is back. The bank account isn’t.

$350 by Sept 24 keeps the lights on.

Give what fits: $15, $25, $50, $70. Every bit moves the meter.

Ways to help now

• Donate here, or DM for other options.

• Can’t give today? Share with 3 people who might.

They prefer privacy, so I’m keeping this general. I’ll post an update and a screenshot when the bill is paid.

Thanks, bbs. We’re keeping the lights on by the 24th.

more words

Ive just seen my neighbor in the heat of the end of summer while they turn coins like seeds on the table.

Since we’ve been September I’ve seen them looking at the calendar like they could see bruises in the white fields and the numbers in the squares, sweating, metallic, and other numbers too, not accounted for, like the ones on the statements, that poke from envelopes like a tooth, but a loose tooth in an envelope cannot bite.

Like myself, I’ll bet, my neighbor was raised to fear man or god but an expiring meter is a poor stand-in for either, damn bizarre thing with its one tooth traveling the city making threats.

I’ll bet that my neighbor hasn’t stopped counting small numbers yet, but in the ledger that has every number ever, I’ll bet also that there is no line for mercy yet.

Maybe everybody together can be counted on to walk planting some of that mercy right through some of those rows.

My neighbor knows how show up for their people, and seems to prefer to be unknown for it but they are known on their block and people smile big when they see them.

Passing this along is like setting a little glowing thing in the world.

I’m dumb for it but when I hear a truck on the street I think, oh fuck, is that the cutoff crew but then I remember it’s a glow already set and it’s been passed along. It’s lights on by the 24th, fyi pass it on.