CRESTVIEW — The community has stepped up to help secure a Crestview Manor resident’s stash of aluminum cans he collects for recycling.
Thieves recently stole a month’s haul of cans Elvit Enlow painstakingly collected around central Crestview neighborhoods.
The News Bulletin’s recent story on the thefts went viral, sparked outrage, and helped draw support to protect a man’s cans.
Susan Hollingshead of Friendly Florist, who is spearheading a drive to have a chain link fence built behind the Manor to secure Enlow’s cans, said response has been heartwarming.
“People have just called and called,” she said. “I’m just overwhelmed about how good everybody is in Crestview.”
Hollingshead said Charlie’s Fence in Holt offered to provide materials to construct the fence.
“We’re very familiar with Mr. Enlow picking up cans,” Kerrie Stillman, of Charlie’s Fence, said. “It bothered us a lot that someone would go to a nursing home and steal from someone like that.”
Resident Paul Lawson offered the services of himself, members of his church and a troop of Boy Scouts to erect the fence.
Ward Lewis, owner of Precision Tactical Arms Company, said he remembered Enlow well from when the company had a shop north of U.S. Highway 90.
“He used to come behind the alley of our old shop,” Lewis said. “All of us would share our aluminum cans or scrap aluminum with him. We’d put it out back for him.”
Lewis offered to buy a shed from Lowe’s to secure Enlow’s cans, “or do anything else we can to help. At end of day, we just want to give him a little bit of help.”
By Monday morning, donors had given $200 toward materials, Hollingshead said, but by lunchtime the business had reached its $500 goal toward materials.
But the outpouring of help didn’t stop there. As of Tuesday morning $745 had been received, Hollingshead said.
“This place was a zoo with so many people calling and coming in,” Friendly Florist employee Bonnie Knecht said Tuesday morning. “A man donated another $100 to ‘Bob’ himself to cover his losses.”
Hollingshead said Enlow sometimes goes by “Bob.”
“We’ve been given so much it does our hearts good that we can give back whenever we can,” Stillman said.
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WANT TO HELP?
Donations for a chain-link fence to secure aluminum cans that Crestview Manor resident Elvit Enlow gathers for recycling can be brought to Susan Hollingshead at Friendly Florist, 586 Ferdon Blvd. N., Crestview, 682-2571.
Donations for a chain-link fence to secure aluminum cans that Crestview Manor resident Elvit Enlow gathers for recycling can be brought to Susan Hollingshead at Friendly Florist, 586 Ferdon Blvd. N., Crestview, 682-2571.
WANT TO HELP?
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Community steps up to secure Crestview man's can collections