Looking Out for Your Neighbors

Arnie has been visiting Muldoon Mobile Food Pantry for years. He used to walk to the pantry every Wednesday morning when he lived closer. Now he is living at a senior center on Muldoon and always leaves whatever he cannot use in a box in the common area for others. Arnie states: “the box always goes empty.” He enjoys cooking and sharing his meals with others in his building as well, many of which use walkers or have mobility issues. Sometimes he just knocks and drops things off at people’s door. They seem to know who left it and are always appreciative. On occasion he tries to visit another pantry as well. This does not happen very often now, due to the high gas prices.
Wednesday mornings at the Muldoon MFP, he shows up early along with quite a few others. This group of regular visitors have become like a family and look forward to seeing one another each week. They enjoy walking around and talking to each other instead of sitting in the car and waiting. Some of them walk over to Walmart together as well. When Arnie broke his leg last year and didn’t show up for about five months, he was shocked and heart-warmed that so many people worried about him.
Arnie noticed an elderly gentleman (91) in his neighborhood always walking to and from the grocery store. He offered him a ride on multiple occasions, but had a hard time getting him to accept one. The man was very modest and always wanted to walk. One rainy day he finally accepted. He now helps him out on a regular basis.
His youth was spent growing up in Southeast Alaska with his younger brother. He loved growing up there. “It felt like we were living the life of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, fishing and living off the land.” As an adult Arnie worked in construction and mining. This enabled him to work and travel all over the state. He lives a comfortable and modest life and is happy knowing he can make a difference in someone else’s when possible.