He Came to Price a Cleanout for a Grieving Widower. He Left Promising to Do It for Free.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. - Henry Milder went to the house on Juniper Lane expecting to look at a job, name a price and move on. He is 22, and about a year and a half ago he started his own business, HM Home Improvement, which clears out houses and garages and does landscaping. The homeowner, David Girasole, 62, walked him through rooms crowded with years of belongings, apologizing as he went. The house had no heat. By the time Mr. Milder left, more than two hours later, he had told Mr. Girasole he would do the work for nothing.

"He didn't believe me, he really didn't believe me," Mr. Milder told NBC 10 News (WJAR) in Providence, which reported the story on Oct. 27. "He was like, 'Are you actually gonna come back?' I was like yeah I'm gonna come back David."

The house in Wakefield, a village of South Kingstown, has been part of Mr. Girasole's life for half a century.

"This is the house I grew up in. It was my parents house, 1974," he told the station. "My wife and I, years ago we bought it from my parents and lived here ever since."

His wife, Tracy Frazer-Girasole, whom he described as the love of his life, died 10 years ago after a struggle with depression. "I'm not over it," he said. "She died and all my bills doubled and everything. I've been trying to keep the house afloat."

For years Mr. Girasole worked as a house painter, but the business slowed, and climbing ladders grew harder with age. So did keeping up with the house and the bills. The clutter accumulated until, he said, he could no longer face it.

"The clutter got so bad my mind can't deal with it," he said. "I thought, I have to sell my house. It's just depressing to be in here, and I had to get out."

He tried selling things on Facebook Marketplace, but buyers only haggled. He decided to get rid of all of it, and went looking online for a junk removal company. "Looking for someone who hustles," he said, "and I came across Henry so I called him."

When Mr. Milder arrived, Mr. Girasole said, he began to well up, embarrassed by the mess. "He said he wanted to do it for free," Mr. Girasole recalled. "I was so surprised because no one ever does that."

Mr. Milder, who said he grew up on a farm doing yard work with his family, put it simply. "It's no way a man should live so I wanted to help him out and he's in a tough spot," he said. "Honestly, I wish I could help more people out like that, but he was in front of me and I knew I could try to help him out."

He then made a video about Mr. Girasole and asked the community for help. He also started a GoFundMe, "A Fresh Start for a Rhode Island Neighbor," to help Mr. Girasole get on his feet before he and his pet parrot, Roxy, move into a studio apartment. On the fundraiser page, Mr. Milder wrote that Mr. Girasole had previously been quoted more than $5,000 for the cleanout, and that the money raised would go toward moving and housing costs and, he hoped, a few months of rent.

"A lot of people have donated. It's been great, so thank you to everyone who has donated," Mr. Milder told WJAR. "We have had a few cleaning companies reach out, a therapist reached out offering counseling services for David."

Some of Mr. Girasole's friends did not believe a stranger would follow through. Two of them, he said, turned up at 8 o'clock one morning to see for themselves. "By the time the guys left, they took Henry's card," he said. "I was like, 'I told ya it's not like that. I can see it, he really wants to help me.'"

On a Sunday morning, Mr. Milder, his employees, friends and volunteers arrived to start hauling out the bulk of it. Crest Management supplied dumpsters free of charge, and employees of William Lawrence Builders spent part of their day helping, Mr. Milder said.

"It's hard for him to say we need to get rid of it because he has attachments to some things, but I told him we just gotta get rid of it out of sight out of mind," he said.

Mr. Milder has also offered to help with the move itself. "I think it was meant to be him calling me," he said. Seeing how thankful Mr. Girasole was, he added, "that response alone kind of made it worth it."

Mr. Girasole, for his part, kept looking at what the young crew had done.

"He's only 22. All these kids, they're all just nice wanting to help me," he said. "Look at the stuff, look at what they've done for me. We just met once, that's it. And now, we're friends for life and I can't believe it."

Sources: NBC 10 News (WJAR), Providence, reporting by Sam Read, Oct. 27, 2026 (https://turnto10.com/news/coronavirus/show-us-something-good/local-22-year-old-helps-widower-in-tough-spot-with-free-whole-house-cleanout-fundraiser-home-improvement-october-27-2026); the GoFundMe page "A Fresh Start for a Rhode Island Neighbor" (https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-fresh-start-for-a-rhode-island-neighbor). All images are illustrative, freely licensed photographs of Wakefield via Wikimedia Commons.