SAN ANTONIO \u2014 As Nancy Rodriguez waters the plants outside her new mobile home, she is working to make unfamiliar surroundings feel like home.<\/p>\n
Four months earlier, Rodriguez did not know whether she would ever get there.<\/p>\n
After years at the same San Antonio mobile home park, Rodriguez received an eviction notice requiring her to move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got the notice to evict, I was scared because I didn\u2019t know where I was going,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI didn\u2019t 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\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez works two jobs, one as a janitor and the other in security, to pay her bills and rent.<\/p>\n
She estimated that moving a mobile home could cost thousands. She said she did not have even $500.<\/p>\n
Arthritis affecting much of her body also made it difficult for her to pack, lift and carry her belongings.<\/p>\n
That was when her neighbor, Darci Harman, stepped in.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe goes, \u2018I have you. I got you. Don\u2019t worry,\u2019\u201d Rodriguez recalled.<\/p>\n
While Rodriguez worked, Harman packed years of belongings. She loaded boxes, hauled away trash and helped protect the mobile home from break-ins.<\/p>\n
Harman also helped move a stack of heavy concrete pavers one piece at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time I got home, she was at it,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how she did it, but she did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harman did not ask Rodriguez for money. She continued helping until Rodriguez and her belongings were safely moved.<\/p>\n
Then Harman faced the same uncertainty herself.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez knew she could not repay Harman for every hour of physical work, but she found another way to show her what it meant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned to Cash for Kindness<\/a> so I can repay her,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThis is a way for me to repay her and help her the way she helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n To get Harman outside without revealing the surprise, Rodriguez claimed there was damage to one of her tires.<\/p>\n Harman came out to help.<\/p>\n FOX SA\u2019s Ryan Wolf was waiting nearby.<\/p>\n Rodriguez told Harman what her friendship had meant during one of the most frightening periods of her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish everybody had a friend like you, because you mean the world to me, and I just want to thank you back,\u201d Rodriguez told her.<\/p>\n Harman was not looking for repayment.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I just wanted her to stay my friend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Wolf then led Harman to the trunk of Rodriguez\u2019s vehicle, where an oversized check was waiting.<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of Fox SA and DJC Law<\/a>, we have a program called Cash for Kindness<\/a>,\u201d Wolf told her. \u201cWe reward people who do things without expecting anything in return.\u201d<\/p>\n Harman turned over the check and discovered that she was receiving $1,000.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what to feel,\u201d Harman tearfully said. \u201cI\u2019ve never had anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez offered her friend the same reassurance Harman had given her months earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not alone,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI\u2019m here for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Harman helped Rodriguez carry the pieces of her life to a new home.<\/p>\n Now, as Harman prepares for a move of her own, Rodriguez has made sure she will not carry it alone.<\/p>\n