To the Editor:

One of my neighbors, at 29 Armstrong Circle, Don Yurkonis and his family, suffered a devastating fire this past Saturday afternoon. Thankfully, Don and his family are safe. Due to the many volunteer fire companies that responded so quickly, the damage was able to be contained. Unfortunately, the house is currently uninhabitable.

And who is my neighbor, Don? I never met Don before and I have lived in the development since 1994.  While the owners have changed over time, there were a few neighbors I have never met and Don was one of them.

After church this past Sunday, my daughter Emily and I stopped by Don’s house to tell him that St. Lucy/St. Bernadette Parish prayed for his family and I wanted to see if they needed anything. When I met Don for the first time that morning, I was struck by what he said as he stoically wiped away a tear, “I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances.”

“Me, too”, I said.

Don said that they have everything they need for right now. Some small luggage was on the ground near one of his cars. Looking at Don’s charred, boarded up home, I could not imagine what belongings were still salvageable as his family prepared to vacate the house.

I asked Don if we could exchange phone numbers and if I could call him in a few weeks to see what his family needed.

That afternoon, I wrote a letter to my neighbors explaining Don’s situation and my husband, Brian, Emily, and I went door to door around our neighborhood hand-delivering the letter to our neighbors, asking if they were interested in helping out once I found out what Don’s family needed.

We even met a few new neighbors on that walk. I also offered to set up a neighborhood emergency contact list in case we needed to contact another neighbor in an emergency. I realized that only a few neighbors had my contact information in case of an emergency. On our walk, I learned that another neighbor, Dan Allen, had started a GoFundMe account for Don and his family (http://www.gofundme.com/450iw5k).

Please keep Don and his family in your prayers. And, over the next few weeks, take some time to get to know a neighbor you have not had the opportunity to meet yet.   

Eileen Borden

Guilderland

Editor’s note: See related story.