SAN ANTONIO — As Nancy Rodriguez waters the plants outside her new mobile home, she is working to make unfamiliar surroundings feel like home.
Four months earlier, Rodriguez did not know whether she would ever get there.
After years at the same San Antonio mobile home park, Rodriguez received an eviction notice requiring her to move.
“When I got the notice to evict, I was scared because I didn’t know where I was going,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t know how I was going to have my mobile home moved, how I was going to pay for it, who was going to help me. I just didn’t know.”
Rodriguez works two jobs, one as a janitor and the other in security, to pay her bills and rent.
She estimated that moving a mobile home could cost thousands. She said she did not have even $500.
Arthritis affecting much of her body also made it difficult for her to pack, lift and carry her belongings.
That was when her neighbor, Darci Harman, stepped in.
“She goes, ‘I have you. I got you. Don’t worry,’” Rodriguez recalled.
While Rodriguez worked, Harman packed years of belongings. She loaded boxes, hauled away trash and helped protect the mobile home from break-ins.
Harman also helped move a stack of heavy concrete pavers one piece at a time.
“By the time I got home, she was at it,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know how she did it, but she did it.”
Harman did not ask Rodriguez for money. She continued helping until Rodriguez and her belongings were safely moved.
Then Harman faced the same uncertainty herself.
The remaining residents of the mobile home park were ordered to leave. Harman and her husband now face moving expenses, vehicle problems and an uncertain destination.
Rodriguez knew she could not repay Harman for every hour of physical work, but she found another way to show her what it meant.
“I turned to Cash for Kindness so I can repay her,” Rodriguez said. “This is a way for me to repay her and help her the way she helped me.”
To get Harman outside without revealing the surprise, Rodriguez claimed there was damage to one of her tires.
Harman came out to help.
FOX SA’s Ryan Wolf was waiting nearby.
Rodriguez told Harman what her friendship had meant during one of the most frightening periods of her life.
“I wish everybody had a friend like you, because you mean the world to me, and I just want to thank you back,” Rodriguez told her.
Harman was not looking for repayment.
“No, I just wanted her to stay my friend,” she said.
Wolf then led Harman to the trunk of Rodriguez’s vehicle, where an oversized check was waiting.
“On behalf of Fox SA and DJC Law, we have a program called Cash for Kindness,” Wolf told her. “We reward people who do things without expecting anything in return.”
Harman turned over the check and discovered that she was receiving $1,000.
“I don’t know what to feel,” Harman tearfully said. “I’ve never had anything like this.”
Rodriguez offered her friend the same reassurance Harman had given her months earlier.
“You’re not alone,” Rodriguez said. “I’m here for you.”
Harman helped Rodriguez carry the pieces of her life to a new home.
Now, as Harman prepares for a move of her own, Rodriguez has made sure she will not carry it alone.
Cash for Kindness is sponsored by DJC Law.