Complete Strangers Help Veteran In Need

By ABC-7’s Jill Galus

As we honor soldiers on this Memorial Day, a day of remembrance, there are forgotten veterans who are in dire need.

Neil Stark Thomas has lived in Northeast El Paso for decades.

No one knew how he was living, until 4 days ago, a family of complete strangers started talking with him outside his home, and when they stepped inside, knew they had to help.

“I’m waiting to die – yeah, I want to die,” Neil said.

Desperate words from the Air Force Reserve veteran and former lawyer.

Without his family and no longer working, this 78 year old says all that is left, is his home.

“People say, why don’t you sell your house and go into a nursing home,” Neil said. “I’d rather be dead than in a nursing home.”

But everywhere you look and try to walk – piles of trash, garbage, corroded floor and ceiling tiles, and a horrific stench.

Neil says he hasn’t maneuvered through most of his 4 bedroom home in nearly 20 years – simply because he can’t.

“And I didn’t have the strength or the money to fix it up,” Neil said. “I had the will maybe, but not the ability.”

But that soon changed this Memorial Day.

Sergio De La Rosa, a complete stranger to Neil, has stepped in to help clean up an investment Neil says he doesn’t want to lose.

“It broke our hearts,” De La Rosa said.

When the De La Rosa family says they saw the conditions Neil was living in, they immediately took action.

And in just 4 days, they’ve packed dozens of garbage bags.

“How can a human being be able to live in such chaos.”

Among the out of control clutter, a metal cot wedged between a hallway is where Neil says he slept everyday.

“A long time before that I had been in the hospital for about a month and when I came back it was in shambles, my house was in shambles,” Neil said. “So I don’t know how it happened.”

The veteran says, he’ll never forget this Memorial Day – the day he was welcomed into a new home.

“Whatever happens with his house, god-willing everything will work out, but he’s going to be part of our lives,” De La Rosa said. “It’s amazing and it’s a blessing for us to have him here – it truly is.”

“It makes me feel good,” Neil said. “I’m very grateful to them.”

Neil says, the best part about spending time with the De La Rosa family is eating lime sherbet – a favorite treat he hadn’t had in years.

The De La Rosa family has started cleaning up Neil’s home but have a long way to go.

If you’d like to help in their efforts, you can call the De La Rosa family at (915) 920-2369.