Gerald Hanks
Two men, reportedly helping their neighbors by raising a flood-damaged home, lost their lives last week, when the roof they attempted to repair collapsed.
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During their work with two other men using a bottle jack to raise a flooded home on Olana Drive in northeast Harris County late last week, police say Shad Moore, 40, and Patrick Dalton Gardiner, 26, died after the wood frame structure failed, crushing them to death.
According to family members, the men worked without any training as construction workers, rather, they simply wanted to help their neighbors raise the home onto concrete blocks.
The home reportedly sustained damage during Hurricane Harvey, so the men wanted to raise it to prevent damage from future floods. They also reportedly refused any sizable payments for their efforts, said to be working for meals and gas money.
RELATED: City of Houston Delivers Another Blow to Storm Damaged Properties
Family members told a Houston newspaper Gardiner wanted to turn his life around after a prison sentence; records show he served three years in a Brazoria County jail before being released in April 2016.
Upon his relief, his family said he married the mother of his daughter and began helping people in his neighborhood.
“He’s a good man with a good heart,” Renee Gardiner said of her late husband in an interview. “If we had a neighbor taking the trash out, he’d stop her and take it out the rest of the way. If he saw an elderly neighbor who needed help with the groceries, he’d put up the groceries.”
RELATED: Houston Public Housing Complex Vacated to Assess Harvey’s Damage
Like his construction partner, Moore’s family said he also became well-known for helping neighbors with routine chores:
Moore’s adult daughter, Chelsea Williams, said she received calls from those her father helped, including a stage IV cancer patient and an elderly woman whose lawn he reportedly mowed on a regular basis for two years.
She spoke about how her father and a friend were known as “hope dealers” and were “always going around helping the little old ladies and the little old men and anybody that needed it. They dealt hope.”
If you would like to donate to funeral costs, Moore’s family created a GoFundMe page:
Patrick Dalton Gardiner Burial https://t.co/gwI3BSL9xN
Please donate yall…it would mean so much to me and the family..@shanedawson @markiplier @LoganPaul @edsheeran @TheGabbieShow @DavidDobrik @lizakoshy @Jack_Septic_Eye @ColleenB123 @Dwarf_Mamba @grav3yardgirl
— LunaXMoonLA ✨ (@Aiden_FMV) December 20, 2017
May these two Houstonians RIP.
