Good Samaritan rallies volunteers to paint elderly man's house

A 75-year-old Oregon man has a fresh coat of paint on his house and new porch furniture after mean comments from a pair of passing teens inspired a good Samaritan to take action.

Josh Cyganik, 35, is a track inspector for Union Pacific in Pendleton, Oregon. Up until a few weeks ago he only knew Leonard Bullock as the friendly man that was always sitting on his porch across the street from the rail yard.

"In the morning when I get here, he's there, waves, when I go home, waves bye," Cygnik told ABC. "I just waved to him, knew he was a nice guy."

But last month, Cygnik heard two teens commenting about the state of Bullock's home and how they thought it should be burned and torn down.

"The look on Leonard's face said it all to me," Cygnik said. "I went home and thought about it and it was just bothering me, eating me up and I knew I had to do something."

So Cygnik found a local lumber and paint store to donate materials and posted a plea to Facebook looking for volunteers to help spruce up Bullock's home.

At first, Cygnik expected it to just be a few other railroad workers helping him out, but his plan went viral. His Facebook post was shared thousands of times and on Saturday July 18, over 100 people showed up to help.

They gave Bullock's house a fresh coat of paint, transforming it from white and turquoise to beige. Some of the volunteers went out and purchased new furniture for the porch so Bullock could continue his hobby of sitting outside and watching the neighborhood in comfort.

In addition to those working on the house, throughout the day, strangers would stop by with food and beverages. By the end of the day, there was so much food left over, they donated it to the local Salvation Army outpost.

"It was just overwhelming how people would come together to lend a hand to do something for Leonard; it's still hard for me to wrap my head around it," Cygnik said.

Cygnik said he never had to think twice about what he did for Bullock, it was simply how he was raised.

"Just respect for others, respect your elders," he said.

Cygnik says Bullock still waves to him every day.

"Day in and day out he's still there and he grins ear to ear."