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What's a good and non patronising way to help my neighbour out (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by Noedel@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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My neighbour has a cat called Stevie. Stevie hangs out with us a lot and we look after him when my neighbour is away.

Yesterday we found Stevie very unwell in our garden. We took him to the neighbour and she immediately rushed him to the vet.

She mentioned the vet was 200 dollars which was a big unexpected expense for her. Her son's birthday is on Monday and she won't be able to do anything for his birthday now.

My wife and I are fortunate enough for 200 dollars to not be a lot of money for us and we want to help, but I'm unsure how.

One option would be that we leave her a little card with 100 dollars and write that we wanted to help because we care about Stevie too.

Another idea is we ask her to do some gardening for us (that's her job, and we're too busy to do it ourselves right now).

I don't want her to feel patronised or awkward about any of this... Happy to take insights.

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[–] Backsideslappy@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think the idea of sending them a "get well soon" card for Stevie with some cash tucked in is a perfectly reasonable and subtle enough idea. Asking somebody to work for you to earn cash for their kids birthday because of unexpected expenses seems a bit on the nose to me but I'm not really familiar with the relationship I suppose.

[–] ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com 4 points 9 months ago

Yeah, much better to, if she protests the money, go "no no but we might need some help in the garden..." And then say she can consider it a down payment on that if that feels better for her but that really it's just that you care for them as you should care for your neighbors.

[–] Noedel@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Off to get one now 😄

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Just be aware money attached to a written note about Stevie’s illness could be seen, in the unlikely event there’s court between you two, as an admission of liability for Stevie.

[–] Noedel@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Lol I'm not in a country that operates like that.