BALTIMORE, Md. — Christopher Schafer isn't a professional landscaper. He usually works next door at his high-end menswear clothing shop, Christopher Schafer Clothier, on Aliceanna Street in Fells Point.
Today, he traded in his custom suits for dirty jeans and a T-shirt to lend a helping hand to his neighbor, Robin Stevenson, a widow and 30-year cancer survivor.
It started with a simple gesture. Schafer offered to cut down some plants while she was on vacation.
"I realized that her yard - I could see it from the patio, it was getting really overgrown, and these Virginia creepers were going up the wall and they were choking up my plants up there,” he told WMAR-2 News’ Elizabeth Worthington.
This is what Robin Stevenson’s backyard looked like when she left for her trip. Referring to it as “a jungle,” she says it just got out of her control over the years.
"Oh, I couldn't do it. I really couldn't do it. Last year was bad for me, and I just said, 'I'll get to it one day.'"
"It was wild back here, no pun intended,” Schafer’s friend, Mike, recalled as he loaded pieces of wood from the old fence into a garbage bin.
While Stevenson was gone, Schafer and a handful of volunteers cleared out about 2,400 pounds worth of overgrown plants, garbage, and other random items you collect over 46 years of living in the same house.
"And he brought me back here and I went, 'I cannot believe this. I cannot believe this,’” Stevenson told WMAR-2 News.
"She was holding back tears, and it was really - it reaffirmed it was the right thing to do,” Schafer said.
Stevenson told him at the time, "'Well let me know what I owe you.’ He says, 'you paid me with the smile on your face.'"
And he was only just getting started. Now he’s putting up a new fence, re-painting all the walls, and replacing the rotted-out plywood on the roof of the shed.
"It's a surprise every minute with him," Stevenson said, laughing.
Neighbors have donated time, money, even patio furniture. You can find the link to his GoFundMe here.
Today, Christopher’s 10 year-old son joined his small army of volunteers.
"I want to teach him that stuff, it's important,” Schafer said.
It’s a simple lesson - the importance of being a good neighbor.
"I mean, I have done - not to pat myself on the back - but I've done a lot of stuff for a lot of people,” Robinson said. "But I've never really had anybody do for me."
"She's my neighbor, you know. I lost my parents like 8 years ago, and she's about the age when my mom passed away and I just think, being able to help out somebody's mom, it's just the right thing to do. And she looks after me next door; we have a good relationship,” Schafer said.
Robin is already planning the party she's going to throw for all the volunteers once this makeover is complete.