An Aldergrove family had plenty of reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving weekend.

As many as 50 volunteers got their hands dirty in an act of kindness, for a family in need of some community support.

The project was spearheaded by the Langley RCMP detachment’s Community Safety Officer (CSO) Paul Walker.

The residents/co-owners of the Ford family residence are four siblings – three sisters and one brother – all of whom are hearing impaired.

Passed down to them from their parents, the property has been home to the Ford family for more than 40 years.

Over the past four to five years, the property fell into disrepair and came to the attention of local authorities.

Over the years, one relative (not a resident) who is known to police brought his criminal element association to the property.

“We’ve been dealing with this property, I’d say, going on two years, now,” Walker said. “It was kind of an untidy, unsightly premise due to a family nephew who had brought a whole bunch of stuff and garbage onto the property. We’ve been working with them to get some voluntary compliance. The nephew is unwelcome to the property and has since left.”

With the piles of garbage, scrap metal, and computer bits, among other things, the yard resembled a homeless camp.

In addition to the trash littering the property, there was an old wooden garage and a fence that were rotting and unsafe, a concrete foundation from an old chicken barn, and much of the land was overgrown with blackberries

Walker recognized there was no point in continuously serving violation tickets, as the family did not have the funds to pay them, nor did they have the means to get out of the situation they found themselves in.

So Walker set about asking community partners to assist in a clean-up project in the hope of re-instating the yard as usable space.

“They [the Fords] were trying to basically get back their lives, for the most part,” Walker said. “They would kind of get a step forward, and then it would get so overwhelming that they couldn’t get past that. So I figured the best solution was to give them a hand, and put something like this together, and re-instate their property.”

The result was beyond expectations. What started out a small idea blossomed into a community coming together to do exterior landscaping and fencing, and to put in a new lawn and garden for the family.

More than $20,000 worth of product and in-kind donations was offered in this outpouring of support. As well, dozens of volunteers, including church members, local business owners, Langley RCMP, and other people who had heard about the project and wanted to help out, gathered at the home early Saturday morning.

Walker said Christian Life Assembly supplied “a lot” of the manpower involved in the project.

CLA also purchased the required fencing material.

“It’s about a $20,000 renovation in a 12-hour span,” Walker told the Langley Advance about mid-day Saturday. “Absolutely not a dime is coming from the family.”

Walker called the project, and the day, “an amazing experience.”

He said when the family left the property early in the morning, there were about 50 Good Samaritans standing on their street, ready to go to work.

“Seeing their reaction – it’s a good feeling,” Walker said. “There was a lot of emotion, a lot of thankfulness. The willingness for the community to come together was just amazing for them.”

When the family members arrived home under a heavy mist of rain Saturday evening, they were awash with emotion.

“Awesome! I think you guys are great! I’m going to cry again,” Sharon Ford told the volunteers. “It won’t be so hard, now.”

Referring to her newly landscaped and manicured backyard, Sharon, who shares the home and property with her brother Edward and sisters Diane and Peggy, said, “I can really rest back there.”

Sharon said the family had planned on cleaning up the property, “but not this great. We were just going to do a little bit at a time.”

Contributors to the project included:

• Pit Stop Portable Toilet Services

• Waste Management

• GLE – Green Landscape Experts

• Valley Pulp & Sawdust Carriers

• Diamond Bar Equipment

• Driving force

• Target Products

• Lafarge Canada

• All Seasons Garden Center

• Life Soils

• CLA Church

• Norm-Ron Excavations

• Valley Traffic

• Bos Sod Farm

• Cat Rental Store

• Aldergrove Credit Union

• West Coast Metal Recycling

• Surrey Cedar

• JD Farms

• Eagle Wind RV

• Tim Hortons (Aldergrove)

• White Spot ( Aldergrove)

• Coca-Cola

• XHale Beauty Lounge

• Seasonal 56

• The Old Spaghetti Factory

• Country Lumber

• Ralph’s Market

• Freybe

• Krause Berry Farms

• Urban ECO Landscaping

• Tyam Group

• George Flath Excavating