‘Just when you think you’ve got nothing, you get everything.’That was how Oxford resident Sherrie Kraniak described her feelings after a local tree removal business came to her aid after the storms ravaged her front yard on Harwood Court June 8.
Kraniak, a single mother of two teenagers who’s recovering from a two-year battle with lung cancer, was in disbelief when the 55-foot Blue Spruce tree toppled during last week’s severe thunderstorms, blocking her car in her garage.
Unable to work because of her illness and financially broke after years of providing hospice care for her grandmother, Kraniak was at a loss as to how she would find anybody to remove the dead tree, let alone how she would pay for it.
‘All my neighbors gathered together and decided as to how they could help me,? she said.
Kraniak’s son, D.J. and daughter, Kayla and friend Aryn Jenez, along with neighbor Gail Madsen and her son, Brendan, as well as Fred and Joanna Snow, pulled together to cut the tree up, pick up branches and move the tree off the driveway.
But she didn’t know how she was going to get rid of the pile of wood left along her driveway.
That’s when she decided to call Father & Son for a quote on having the wood mulched.
Unfortunately, Kraniak’s homeowner’s insurance didn’t cover fallen trees, so she was preparing for the financial blow when she met with the owner of Father & Son, Joe Jenkins.
After hearing of Kraniak’s health and financial burden, Jenkins said he’d ‘take care of her.?
‘He said, ‘honey, I want you to take care of your children, and to take care of your health,?? she said.
She even offered to pay him and his crew in beer, but he refused.
‘When people like that pool around you, that’s all that matters in life,? she said.