Phoenix community’s ‘go-to’ handyman gets $3,000 surprise

PHOENIX (Arizona’s Family Surprise Squad) -- Todd lives in a Phoenix mobile home park, and he is known as the go-to guy in the neighborhood if you need something fixed. That’s why 3TV’s Scott Pasmore and the Arizona’s Family Surprise Squad recently visited him.

His former neighbor, Mae, explained why she nominated him for a surprise. “I love him so much, and there’s nobody I can think of that deserves this any more than he does,” she said. “His main goal in life is to help others. That’s what he does. He prepares meals; he helps people; he can repair anything. It was like 11, 12 o’clock at night, and I went outside, and my water pipe had broken, and water was just coming out of the ground everywhere. And I was panicked. So I called Todd. It took us hours, but he repaired it. In the middle of the night.”

Mae and the Surprise Squad team walked up to Todd’s home and knocked on the door. It was morning, and he was not ready for visitors. “I’m not even dressed,” he said from behind his closed door.

“Well, put something on,” Mae insisted.

“I’m Scott Pasmore with the Arizona’s Family Surprise Squad. Sorry to bother you so early, but we have a surprise for you. We want to make your day a lot better.”

“Are you alright, sweetie?” Mae asked.

“Yeah,” Todd responded. “Just getting ready to go over to Betty’s.

“Well, this won’t take very long.”

Pasmore sat down with Todd in a courtyard at the mobile home park for a quick interview. “It sounds like you put everybody else before you. Why?” Pasmore asked.

“I came from a very bad childhood,” Todd explained. “So, I like to change that around and give goodness to people. It’s what we need. There’s a lot of poor people in here that just can’t afford to hire somebody to work. So, when they found out I’m very handy, I just took off. I have so much work that it just keeps me busy every day.”

Todd went on to talk about his friendship with the woman he was getting ready to visit. “Little Betty, in 2016, she had a stroke, so I had to step in,” he said. “She has no family, nobody here that she really knew. So, I just stepped in like a stepson and just started taking care of her. About six months ago, she fell and broke her hip, so I’m there three times a day. I’m just going to head over there now to get her breakfast, get her set up for the day, and then I go at noon, get her sandwiches made so she can eat, and 3, 4 o’clock watch ‘Judge Judy’ with her and then feed her.”

“I think everybody here loves you so much, especially Mae. So the Surprise Squad wanted to give you this,” Pasmore said as he handed Todd an envelope. “We just wanted to thank you for being such a good person in your community. So, open it up and see what’s in there.”

“I’m nervous,” Todd said as he took out the certificate inside. “Holy crap, $3,000!”

“You can do anything you want with that,” Pasmore said. “That is yours. It’s just a thank you from your community and your Valley Toyota Dealers for what you do to all your neighbors in here.”

Todd thanked Pasmore for the gift and informed him that he would be putting some of that money in a rainy day fund that he can tap into if something unexpectedly needs to be fixed in his neighborhood.