GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Many people say today’s political environment leaves them in despair. There seems to be a divide in America that is becoming more evident to citizens, and they are beginning to see daily incidents of what was once thought to be unimaginable violence.
Meanwhile, in a little corner of the world, a small South Jersey community recently rallied in an effort to help a man with special needs keep his home. As of Monday afternoon, an online fundraiser had raised more than enough money to help Lamar Harris keep his Gloucester Township home.
A Philadelphia-based motorcycle group that calls itself a “one-percenter” motorcycle club has taken notice and now they’re taking action. On Saturday, the Wheels of Soul are riding to meet the white community that gave an adult black man a second chance at having a home.
The “Help Lamar Save His Home” GoFundMe page had raised more than $64,000, as of Monday afternoon, Aug. 5. The 39-year-old man with the mental abilities of a pre-teen had needed to raise at least 50 percent of the $50,000 in back taxes and fees needed to save his home.
He found himself in the position after his father suffered a massive heart attack and died during a trip to ShopRite in 2015. A year later, when his brother died, Harris found himself all alone and, eventually, in debt.
The money was raised through 996 donations on a fundraiser started by the mostly white community that lives in the Foxboro Development in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township.
Wheels of Soul, a mixed-race motorcycle club formed in 1967 in Philadelphia, took notice of the community’s efforts at a time when America’s racial divide is becoming more glaring.
“With the racial tension we see right now, to see white members of the community go out of their way to help a black man in need is great,” said a longtime member of the group who goes by the name Captain Black. “There should be more people who help each other like this.”
Captain Black said his group will ride to Harris’s home on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 10. He said he has not yet spoken with Harris, but he has spoken to a few of the neighbors who helped launch the fundraiser.
While the money raised is enough to satisfy a lien that was placed on the house by the township, the community is now trying to raise money to help pay this year’s taxes, attorney fees and home repairs, according to resident Denise Coyne, who has been helping with the fundraiser.
Captain Black said his group will make a donation. He estimates it will be about $1,000, but said the amount as important as recognizing the efforts of this community.
Wheels of Soul has a strong black presence, but they also have white members and Puerto Rican members in their group, Captain Black said.
“It’s just people who want to ride motorcycles together,” Captain Black said.
They’ve done fundraising in the past, for efforts to support battered women, collect backpacks for children in need in Philadelphia, and for autism. Captain Black said his group isn’t perfect, but it does try to do good in the community.
This is a community that has done good for a man in need of it. Harris’s father paid off the mortgage on the home before he passed away. However, the neighbors didn’t realize the taxes continued to accrue, and Harris does not understand finances and has a very limited reading ability.
“We didn’t even think about it,” organizer Terri Fretz previously told Patch. “We helped him fix up his home. We have all his bills set up to be paid, and we were helping him with his bank account. But we never thought about the taxes.”
She said if he had lost his home, he wouldn’t have even understood why. Harris has had a part-time job at Rastelli’s doing menial tasks since he was 15 years old. He also cuts lawns for his neighbors, and takes in their trash cans. They go to the market for him.
It’s the kind of close-knit community that shows no existence of a racial divide that Captain Black said the country needs more of. On Saturday, he and members of his group from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware will get the chance to see it firsthand.
Source: Patch