Blind Bend Man's Work is Caring in Action

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BEND, Ore. -- If you live in the Tamarack Park neighborhood in northeast Bend, you may have seen him. Jim Swift has been working since July to clear every street of branches, bushes and weeds.

But there's one thing in particular about Jim that makes his story an inspiration for all of us.

"I've been totally blind since, for the last 15 or 17 years," the 58-year-old explained.

At age 14, Swift was diagnosed with an aggressive form of glaucoma. He had partial vision through his early 40's, but then, his eyesight was completely gone.

So in July, when he went on a neighborhood walk, he couldn't see a large branch hanging over the sidewalk. He ran into it, badly cutting his head and knocking him to the ground.

"I kept running into tree limbs that were hitting me in the face and knocking my glasses off," he said recently.

So, he started trimming. And trimming.

And soon, the project turned into something much larger than himself.

"'Cause the neighborhood was starting to look run down, like people didn't care," Swift said, after feeling the overgrown shrubbery, branches and weeds on several streets.

There are more than 400 homes in the subdivision, and since July, he has gone by every single one, one step -- one reach -- at a time.

"Not being able to see, I had to go along, I've felt every inch of curb, both up on the sidewalk part and down where the curb meets the asphalt," Swift explained. "I've literally felt it."

Working with a precision most sighted people wouldn't have, he makes a judgment call every time before he clips. He identifies plants, examines why branches are hanging low, and as he said, "I try to take the same care I would in my own yard."

"I don't know if it takes longer than a sighted person or not, but some days it feels like it takes forever," Swift said.

He works a few on-call part-time jobs, but with no consistent full-time work, Swift has poured hours -- days even -- into the project, often working eight hours or more in the neighborhood.

"There was one stretch, I think I was out here for almost three weeks straight," he said.

While he's not complaining, he doesn't want to have to do it all twice. It's the homeowners' responsibility to clear and maintain their own property connecting up to the street, but very few actually do.

Early on, Swift called the city of Bend for permission, and became a volunteer through the Bend Beautification Program, meaning the city provides the debris bags and picks them up.

But at least one neighbor did voice concerns about the safety of having a blind man do the work.

"So one of the points we made with him was, 'This is a great opportunity to go out and help Jim, help be a part of the solution here, because he has a right to be able to safely walk around his neighborhood,'" said Cheryl Howard, volunteer coordinator for the Bend Beautification Program.

"So that was really an inspiring moment in the conversation where it's just like, 'Wait, I can be a part of the solution, rather than just waiting for somebody else to solve this problem,'" Howard said.

But overall, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

"We'd walk around the neighborhood, and we'd see yellow bags and the trees were clipped when we were out walking, and my grandson came home and said the gentleman who was doing it is blind, and I couldn't believe it," said Tamarack Park resident Jackie Blank.

For months, they'd seen his work around the neighborhood, but only knew him as 'the tree man.' But while our cameras were there, Blank and her grandson, Mike Miller, got to meet Swift for the very first time. They brought two boxes of gloves, and two big thank-yous.

"You've made it so much easier for all of us to walk around the neighborhood," Blank told Swift. "We just can't thank you enough."

"That alone makes it all worthwhile," he replied.

It's the kind of comment Swift said he hears a lot.

"He's done amazing work just bringing the neighborhood together," Howard said. "Where before, I think there was a larger sense of disconnect, now what we're seeing is the neighbors are talking to him, talking to each other. They're really communicating with each other, which is huge."

"This was more of an undertaking than I thought it would be," Swift laughed. "But once I started, I was determined to finish, and now I'm on the last street."

A man who's determined not to be identified by what he can't do -- but by what he can.

"It's so nice to see someone give a darn," neighbor Mike Miller said.

"He's phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal," his grandmother added.

Jim Swift's work with the Bend Beautification Program has inspired a door hanger that's now being given out. It outlines exactly what homeowners are responsible for clearing on their own properties
 
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