2020 Has been a tough year for many people.COVID-19 layoffs, medical bills, and natural disasters have put some of our neighbors in precarious financial situations. As such, there are a significant number of people having difficulty paying their bills, and their past dues are piling up. One Florida man saw many people in his community struggling and wanted to help out. How? By paying the utility bills of everyone in his town who was behind on their payments.
Florida Man Pays Neighbours’ Past Dues
Michael Esmond is a business owner from Gulf Breeze, Florida, where many of his neighbors have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 layoffs. Hurricane Sally also hit the area pretty hard, damaging many people’s homes.
To help out those who were struggling with past dues notices, Esmond donated $7,615.40 to pay the past-due utility bills of 114 households. “When we had Hurricane Sally, that did a lot of damage to a lot of residents here,” Esmond said. “And the pandemic, I know, has a lot of people out of work… they’ve closed up, they’ve laid people off. So this year, I felt like I really needed to do something.” [1]
This is not the first time Esmond has been so generous
He began this giving tradition last year when he paid the past-due utility bills of 36 households in his community. Given this year’s circumstances, however, he knew he needed to increase that number.
This year’s donation was a little over three thousand dollars more than last year’s, but he was able to help 78 more households. The reason for this was that many people had past dues that were one hundred dollars or less. “That really impacted me — that people can’t even afford to pay a $100 bill on their utilities and things are so bad,” Esmond said [2].
The 74-year-old is the owner of Gulf Breeze Pools and Spas. Unlike many others, business has been very good for him this year. He feels guilty that things have gone so well for him while others have been having such a hard time. For this reason, he wanted to share what he has with people who need it.
Giving From Experience
Esmond is particularly motivated to help people in this way because he’s been there himself. Back in the eighties, he ran into some financial difficulties of his own and had trouble paying some of his bills. “I have been down on my luck like people are today, where I had trouble paying bills and raising three daughters,” he said. “The gas company shut the gas off and we didn’t have any heat.” [2]
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He thought his family would be okay without heat since they live in Florida, but of course that winter turned out to be one of the coldest they had experienced in the area. The temperatures on some days dropped down to just six degrees celsius (42 degrees fahrenheit).
Esmond says he can relate to people who are unable to pay bills
This is his biggest motivator to help out. Joanne Oliver is the city’s utility billing supervisor. She says that this year, they are giving residents a longer grace period before shutting off their utilities. “We’re not cutting customers off. We’re not disconnecting them for nonpayment until they are more than sixty days past due,” she explained [2].
Esmond’s cheque covered the bills for those who were past due by sixty days, as well as those who were more than thirty days overdue and had a COVID-19 deferral. Oliver remarked that despite these tough times, there are still people out there who are generous and kind and want to help others. “To have others within the community wanting to reach out and help their neighbors, now is more important than ever,” she added [2].
Paying it Forward
Not only has Esmond helped the people in his own community, but he’s inspiring others across the country. “I’ve had people call me out of California, Chicago, Tampa, saying that they wanted to send some money,” Esmond said “I said, ‘No, take the money, go do what I did. Start this in your own communities.’” [1]
He says he did this simply to make things a little less stressful around the holidays. Since he started last year, he’s received countless messages from people expressing their gratitude. “I don’t know how to put that in words, because I’m not a guy who’s ever really been involved in anything like this where I made people happy. I’m a guy who goes out and digs in the dirt and builds swimming pools,” he continued. “It’s just unbelievable.” [1] He is hoping that the gesture will continue, and people will follow his lead to make Christmases better for others in the future.
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