It is hard to imagine. When Eric Thompkins’ backyard well pump failed, he had to carry three five-gallon barrels of water from his nearby mother’s home so he could bathe, flush his toilets and have water to drink.

Thompkins has multiple sclerosis and lives alone in his Putnam County home. He did this every day for about a month, he says, until the Health Department contacted Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) to help.

NHN is a 501(c)3 non-profit serving Greene and Putnam counties. It provides several services for people in need, including beds for children and one-time critical home repairs.

NHN met with Thompkins, evaluated his situation and contacted Joel Carroll, who has had a local well and pump repair business for 21 years.

“He had a bored shallow well,” Carroll said. “He had hired somebody to put a Home Depot jet pump or whatever on it. They couldn’t get it going. I actually had a used good submersible pump, we gave and installed, just to get his water going.”

Thompkins was very grateful.

“The organization was wonderful. It was the best help I had in my life,” he said.

Donations to NHN go directly to paying for the cost of the repairs but NHN Project Manager Rich Grossman said Carroll would not accept payment.

“He said ‘I’ve always wanted to help out. I’ll do this job for nothing’,” Grossman said.

Joel Carroll was back again to help Doris Jordan, who has been living in her Putnam County mobile home for about 30 years. Recently, her well started running out.

“It got to the point where it stopped,” she said. “I remember thinking ‘what can you do when your well runs out?’I started buying water. I went over to the church. I talked to my pastor, my brother-in-law and my sister.”

She had to live with a family member until Neighbors Helping Neighbors was contacted with a request to help “an older member” of the church.

“She had a PVC pipe well,” contractor Joel Carroll said. “We had to use our equipment to pull the pipe out.”

About 90 minutes later, water was restored and she got a call from NHN Project Manager Rob Mitchell.

“You don’t miss your well until your water runs out,” she said. “The next thing I know, somebody was saying ‘you’ve got your well. You’ve got some water.’”

Joel Carroll charged NHN a discounted price for the work.

Carroll Pump and Well Service is locally owned and operated, serving Putnam and surrounding counties.

It is just one of many local contractors who have worked on the 60 home repairs that Neighbors Helping Neighbors has completed and paid for this year. Many times, the contractors discount their work for the organization.

In its three years in existence, NHN has repaired over 120 homes, repaired or replaced over 30 cars and has delivered 360 beds to kids who do not have a bed of their own.

NHN focuses on one-time critical needs – home repairs, repairing or replacing a primary vehicle for families and the Beds for Kidz program. NHN primarily serves low-income families, older adults, children, single working mothers and their children, military veterans and developmentally and/or physically challenged individuals in Greene and Putnam counties.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors is a 501(C)3 non-profit member-based organization. 100% of all donations go directly to projects for those in need. For more information, to become a member, or to donate, go to www.nhnga.org.