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What started off as a rude encounter ended up becoming a touching story!
By Nia Tipton — Written on Mar 25, 2023
An elderly couple living in Gloucester, Massachusetts were shocked after discovering someone in their neighborhood had left a note criticizing the outside appearance of their home.
In July 2020, Jimmy Curcuru, 71, found the anonymous note in his mailbox outside the home he's lived in with his wife Marilyn, 72, for the last 50 years. While the couple was clearly perturbed by the rude dig at their home, their daughter decided to take matters into her own hands.
Their daughter set the record straight after a neighbor wrote a rude letter about their unkempt house.
When Michelle heard about the note left for her parents, she decided to post a photo of it on Facebook.
"To my concerned neighbor, thank you for letting me know my house needs to be painted," she wrote, per CNN. "Guess what? I know. I've been working on it for almost four years."
"I myself always drive by houses that look like mine and wonder what's up in their lives," she added. "I don't judge them not knowing what they may be going through."
Jimmy and Marilyn have been happily residing in their Massachusetts home for almost half a century. Their three children were raised in it, and for a better part of their lives, the two were active members in their community, even owning a small business.
As Jimmy and Marilyn continued to age, they were unable to keep things up to date when it came to home repairs, and as a result, their home slowly began to deteriorate. While both Jimmy and Marilyn wished they could have done more, they never expected someone to point it out to them.
While checking his mailbox one day, Jimmy came across a note from a "concerned" neighbor. "Please paint me," the letter read even calling their home an "eyesore," according to CNN.
At first, Jimmy was upset, not by the letter itself but rather because whoever had sent it "didn't have the nerve to sign it ... It was cowardly of them to write a letter like that."
In an interview with The Washington Post, Jimmy explained that Marilyn has multiple sclerosis and has been bedridden for about four years. Their daughter, Michelle, told CNN that in 2006, her father had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery, after which he developed kidney problems.
"I used to enjoy working on the house when I could, but now it's hard for me to do it," Jimmy, who recently retired to spend time with his wife, told the news outlet. "It's not a good idea for me anymore to get up on a ladder."
Their community immediately asked what they could do to improve Jimmy and Marilyn's home.
Following Michelle's post, Jimmy and Marilyn's home went viral, with many people in their community asking if they could donate money, including the mayor, who also offered to chip in.
A GoFundMe page was created and ended up raising $78,930 for Jimmy and Marilyn.
"The [Facebook post] was written the day that it happened, so our original thought was anger, especially my sister who lives in the home with them and has sacrificed so much… it’s hurt and anger at the beginning,” Michelle told CNN. "But as the weeks have gone by and you see this outpouring from the community, at this point, the person who wrote the note doesn’t really matter.”
All of the money donated went toward painting the outside of Jimmy and Marilyn's home, as well as repairing the leaky roof and replacing rotted clapboard siding. They also updated windows that had not been replaced since the 1950s.
"We want to enjoy the love and support of this great city we live in," the couple's son, Jimmy, wrote on the GoFundMe page. "I want to thank everyone for everything you have done and are going to do.”
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics.