A man overheard a group of teens taunting an old man’s house, saying it should burn to the ground. But instead of telling the kids off, he took the best kind of action.
Josh Cyganik, a track inspector for Union Pacific Railroad, works across the street from the house of Leonard Bullock, 75, in Pendleton, Oregon. One day, he saw Bullock sitting on his porch, as usual.
“So I was at work a couple weeks ago, and I heard two teenage boys walk by this old man’s house,” Cyganik wrote in a Facebook post. “He sits on the porch all day long. They were on his side of the road and I heard them from where I was. They said loud enough for me to hear, ‘Look at this crappy house. They just need to burn it down!'”
Cyganik said he could tell Bullock was upset, and he wanted to do what he could to help.
After securing a paint donation from a local lumber store, Cyganik asked his Facebook friends to join him in repainting Bullock’s house.
Despite posting his message only two days before the proposed renovation date, Cyganik got tons of responses.
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Cyganik’s Facebook post was shared over 6,000 times.
According to KNDU, Josh said he got responses from people in Florida, New York, California, Tennessee, Georgia, and Illinois asking if there was anything they could do to help.
When the big day arrived, a giant crew arrived at the house. According to a Facebook post by Cyganik’s wife, Holly Johnson Cyganik, at one point 95 people were there working.
Volunteers cleared the backyard, as well, hauling scrap metal and downed branches off to the landfill.
Others brought much-needed refreshments.
According to Holly, Bullock had “a huge smile on his face all day long.”
When the workers were finished, the house looked amazing.
“I’ve been called a hero, and I don’t look at it as that,” Cyganik told KNDU. “I think anyone would’ve done the same thing if they heard what I heard. Everyone has it in them, it’s just wanting to take that step forward and do it.”
[Photos via Josh and Holly Cyganik / Facebook]