One man lends a helping hand to vulnerable neighbors in Quincy

QUINCY — Paul Perry’s neighbors in Quincy can’t believe what he’s donating.

“Oh my goodness, they’ll be thrilled,” one neighbor said.

Perry is dropping off masks and gloves to seniors and people with disabilities.

He made another special delivery Wednesday evening, this time to public housing in Quincy.

“There’s a lot of them that don’t have anyone around them. Knowing that, I just wanted them to feel safe,” Perry told Boston 25.

Perry knows their plight first hand. He’s disabled.

He also lives with them as vice chair of the Quincy Housing Authority Residents Council for elderly and disabled tenants. Perry’s been asking friends for help on Facebook and some have gladly stepped up.

“I had gotten these donated. These are cloth,” Perry said.

He’s referring to masks that some residents have left at his door. He said, “They’re reusable. They are washable and you can reuse them.”

So far, Perry has dropped off 300 little plastic baggies. Each contains a mask and a set of disposable plastic gloves and a letter explaining why he did it.

“I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people just really overwhelmed and excited that they got them,” he said.

Residents are grateful for what he is doing.

“Without them, I wouldn’t be able to go out of the house or anything. You can’t buy cloth masks,” one resident said.

Perry’s goal is to donate 900 masks. He started a donation page on the Residents Council FaceBook page.

"With everybody helping a little we can get it done. We need 600 more to complete all of the elderly tenants and disabled tenants," he said.

Perry, a former first responder, said he saw a need and had to help.

“With the elderly, a lot of them are scared and don’t know what to do,” he said. “A lot of them don’t have family or friends around and I just want to make sure everybody gets one.”

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