Beloved By Community, Sheraden Woman Wins Good Neighbor Award
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Mister Rogers encouraged all of us to be good neighbors, so he would be proud of a woman from Sheraden.
Her community thinks she is so special; they nominated her for a national good neighbor award.
There are neighbors, and then there are neighbors like JoAnn Jones.
"I just do what I do because I like it, and I like being with other people," JoAnn says.
On any given afternoon, you can find JoAnn checking on the folks in her tight-knit neighborhood.
"She is so giving," said neighbor Rita Carmichael. "If you ask her to do something, she is going to do it."
Rita, 91, and her daughter, Cathy, rely on JoAnn for weekly rides to church.
"When she goes to Florida, I am lost. You know how many times I want to pick up the phone and call her?" Rita says.
When asked about all the things JoAnn does for her neighbors, Bill Conley said, "I could be here a lot longer than you have time for."
She weeds her neighbors' yards, brings in their mail and knocks on their doors to make sure they are okay. JoAnn never asks for anything in return, but her friends and neighbors did not want her good deeds to go unnoticed.
So, when the website Nextdoor, a social network for neighborhoods, was looking to giveaway a national Good Neighbor award," JoAnn's neighbors nominated her.
"First one I thought of was JoAnn Jones," said neighbor Ella Lascola.
"I am so excited about this," JoAnn says.
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And she should be; JoAnn now has major bragging rights. That award she was nominated for, she won.
"I would never have thought, never dreamed anything like this would happen to me," JoAnn said.
She's taking the Good Neighbor award in stride and hasn't missed a beat doing what she loves.
"I enjoy my neighbors," she says. "We are good friends, and any way I can help them is good for me, too."