100 People Respond to Wife’s Call For Help Cleaning Her Yard After Husband Falls Ill

When a Tucson, Arizona, woman was dealing with a personal tragedy, her community stepped in to offer a helping hand.

In February 2017, Jennifer Simmons’s husband was diagnosed with stage four laryngeal cancer. Since that time, she has been forced to work, take care of her husband, and maintain her home with virtually no help. Having an ill loved one is difficult for any family, but for Jennifer, it was becoming completely overwhelming.

The family’s issues got worse when a monsoon swept through the area, which led to her yard becoming overrun with weeds and tall grass. Jennifer’s husband was unable to maintain the property due to his cancer treatments, and the situation soon grew out of control until she took to Facebook to ask for help. The response was amazing—more than 100 volunteers stepped in to help with the yard work.

“This is so important for us to be here to simply help clean up the yard, whatever it takes," Angela Skinner, one of the volunteers, told KGUN 9.

The yard work was about more than making the Simmons’s home look nice. The family is in the process of renewing their lease, and Jennifer told KGUN9 that, “I asked for help in clearing the yard so I can have a good home inspection.”

Simmons said she was initially embarrassed about asking the community for help, especially when she told her husband. She said her husband “never stopped working and when he was tired he was still working,” when he was healthy. But after seeing the kindness and generosity on display, she told KGUN9, "It restores my faith in humanity.”