The kindness of neighbors, part II

Readers of this column might remember a Sunday piece from last summer about the man in the photo above: Dennis Slaughter, a “somewhat disabled” fellow who sells The Sun on the Edmondson Avenue median strip in the Hunting Ridge neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore. After a couple of punks robbed him at gunpoint, the people of Hunting Ridge and some of his regular customers raised funds to make up for his losses and then some. It was Marsha Wise, a real estate agent and president of the Hunting Ridge Community Assembly, who presented Dennis with $200 and watched him cry at the gesture. “You don’t know how much this means to me,” Dennis said. “No one’s ever done this for me.’”

I received this follow-up note from Martha on Sept. 4:

Dennis reached out to me a few weeks ago. He said he was finally able to get a place of his own for him and his cat but didn’t have the $273 he needed for his part of the security deposit. Could I/the neighborhood help him out? He would pay it back. I told him I would see what I could do. I put the word out on our community list serve, and once again, my neighbors did not disappoint! I collected over $600 in cash. Enough to cover his security deposit, his first month’s rent and utilities! Folks wanted to know if he needed anything to set up his new household. Dennis said he needed everything. So pots, pans, blankets, dishes, a lamp, etc. showed up at my door. And then the couponing-mommas starting bring shelf-stable food, cleaning products, hygiene items from their stashes. One neighbor purchased a case of cat food as well. Dennis’ lease started yesterday. My sons I and will be delivering it all to him this afternoon. Hunting Ridge is his fairy godmother!