Photo: DK Landscaping provided Hessel with pre-Thanksgiving weekend employment and sent him home with a turkey and a new sleeping bag to keep warm on cold nights.
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – It looked as though this Thanksgiving would be a bleak one for Phillip Hessel. Unemployed, without a phone or electricity, and only a bike for transportation, the possibility of landing a job seemed remote. The threat of homelessness loomed. Although he is experienced in all manner of labor, his search for work wasn’t producing any viable prospects.
Enter David Lee, owner of DK Landscaping. After hearing about Hessel from a woman at church, Lee met with the man and found him capable and eager to work.
With a landscaping project scheduled for the weekend, Lee put Hessel to work for two days with his crew. He picked Hessel up in Windsor, drove him to the job site, provided breakfast and lunch, paid him a living wage, and took him home at night.
Why did he go to all this trouble? “As a child in Hong Kong, I lived in poverty,” said Lee. “My family of seven lived in one room. When we came to the U.S., we lived in East Palo Alto, then the murder capital of the country. I’m very thankful that I have a successful business, and I take nothing for granted. This is my way of sharing what I have.”
At the end of the weekend, DK Landscaping employees, including Hessel, received a turkey. Lee also gave Hessel a sleeping bag to keep him warm on cold winter nights.