HOPE helps elderly 'feel better at night'

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- John Caplener's family bought their Northeast Portland home in 1966. When he was 16, he said he put the yard in.

"Didn't have any plants or any trees," he told KOIN 6 News. "Since then it's just overgrown and gotten out of hand and I can no longer get out and use a chainsaw."

The overgrown plants and trees allow would-be squatters to target his home.

"As a disabled senior, I'm frightened and I'm concerned," Caplener said. "My home's been broken into, probably because of the way things look."

Enter HOPE -- Honoring Our Precious Elders -- a volunteer group founded several years ago by Hen Truong.

"We're cleaning up fall leaves and mowing the lawn, too," Truong said about the volunteers at Caplener's house. "We want to make the home look livable, lived in, actually, and to help prevent people from coming onto the property."

HOPE is currently helping around 300 elderly citizens with yard work across Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Sometimes groups of students come out to pitch in. Truong said often they will get referrals from neighbors or, in Caplener's case, a food delivery service connected to them.

"It makes me feel great. a mission of mine," he said. "I try to say we're not a yard care company or a landscaping company. We're a community building organization."

It also gives John Caplener some peace of mind.

"This really minimizes my fear and makes me feel better that I can sleep at night."