Retired Firefighter Helps Bethesda Neighbors Shovel After Every Snow Storm

BETHESDA, MD — Every time it snows hard in Bethesda, Lucas Lane neighbors can count on a retired firefighter to clear a quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk along Old Georgetown Road. Richard Hoye invested more than $40,000 dollars in equipment to help his neighbors — free of charge — out of the kindness of his heart, Your 4 State reports.

Hoye said shoveling continues his passion and the "spirit of service."

Old Georgetown Road serves as the main road residents take to get to work or shops, but the sidewalks end up covered with heaps of snow after the county plows come through.

That's where Hoye comes in. Hoye says if he doesn't shovel the sidewalks, residents would have to walk in the middle of the street, which he's witnessed "too often."

"I want to be able to sleep at night, and I cannot sleep at night knowing that there's people walking in the street of a five-lane road,” said Hoye. “We're not all independent creatures. We're co-dependent creatures and that's our power."

Neighbors are extremely grateful for Hoye's services, and said Hoye's work has helped them many times.

"It's just such a great symbol to the community of what it means to care for one another, and for people you know, and also people you don't know, which is maybe even the most meaningful,” Todd Rosenberg, a Bethesda resident, said.

Read the full story on Your 4 State here.

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