Crossing into Friendship

Lion Mike Contreras of Whidbey Island, Washington, was about to cross a busy street when he noticed an elderly man in the crosswalk struggling to maneuver his wheelchair.

The Oak Harbor Lion and former police officer quickly jumped in to help.

“As I pushed his wheelchair across the street, he told me he was moving and didn’t have anyone to help,” Mike said. “That moment changed everything.”

Kirk Gardner, the 92-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, explained that he lived on the top floor of an apartment building and had spent the night trying to move his belongings to a new ground-floor unit on his own. It was a move he was required to make after a recent fire drill revealed he could not evacuate safely in the event of an emergency.

Mike knew he couldn’t leave the veteran to manage the move alone.

Calling in the Lions

Mike contacted a few Navy veteran friends. But when he saw how much Kirk still had to pack and move, he realized they needed more help.

“I thought, why am I not calling my Lions club?” he said. “I reached out — and they showed up in force.”

Within hours, more than a dozen Oak Harbor Lions arrived. Some brought tools. Others brought food. All of them brought compassion.

“I’d only been a Lion for about six months,” Mike said. “I didn’t expect so many people to come. It showed me just how tight-knit and compassionate our club really is.”

The moving crew carried furniture, boxes and personal belongings down multiple flights of stairs. By the end of the day, everything was organized, accessible and safely arranged in Kirk’s new ground-floor home. For the first time in years, he could move through his space freely.

Just the beginning

Even though the Lions were relieved to know Kirk was in a safer living situation, they couldn’t help but feel their role in his life wasn’t quite over. It wasn’t.

“We went to visit every day for almost two weeks afterward,” Contreras said. “We wanted to make sure he was settled and doing OK.”

The club also tapped into its medical equipment program and secured a motorized wheelchair and a lift-assist chair to help Kirk regain some independence.

The first time he used the wheelchair, Mike received a phone call from a half-amused, half-concerned Kirk. “‘You’ve got to slow this thing down — you’re going to kill me!’” he recalled Kirk saying.

It was a lighthearted moment — the first of many in what quickly developed into a close friendship. The two now talk on the phone at least once a week, usually about Kirk’s favorite topic: spiritualism and the philosophical questions derived from the books he reads.

“When we first met, he hadn’t left his apartment in 15 years,” Contreras said. “Now, he has someone to talk to, and I do, too. He’s one of my best friends.”

The power of compassion

Contreras gets emotional when he speaks about Kirk and his new friendship. “It raises my spiritual vibration,” he said.

He’s not the only one who was touched. On the day of the big move, one of Mike’s Navy veteran friends was so inspired by the Lions’ response that he decided to join the club right then and there.

“That’s how powerful compassion can be,” Mike said. “I’m reminded of this every time I talk to my good friend Kirk.”