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Local Realtor lends a helping hand to special needs adults
Arcadia Weekly Jul 17, 2014
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By SHEL SEGAL
No one ever said family had to be blood related. For brothers Roy and Robert Lewis of Monrovia, their family has come in the form of Nancy McSween, a real estate agent with Podley Properties in Pasadena.
McSween has become the brothers’ “godmother” of sorts as she has helped them find housing in Monrovia and is even trying to see if she can find them some work.
“They are basically low-functioning,” McSween said of the Lewis brothers, who are both around age 60. “But what is interesting is the fact we get many people like them who are in board and care. And they chose not to live in a board and care. Some of them can be quite functional making just a minimal amount of money. But they chose to live on their own and on their own resources.”
McSween said the brothers have had to relocate in Monrovia as the house they were living in was sold. But while the brothers would do their best to find housing on their own, they just needed someone to give them a little boost.
“They would basically ride their bikes throughout Monrovia and look for signs saying, ‘For Rent,'” she said “They would call the numbers and if it was in their price range they would call me up. I knew since there was no family to assist them that somebody had to help them. Yes, it’s my job to sell the house. Is it my job to relocate the tenants? No. But there is something that tugs at your heart … and you have to help those in need.”
The brothers ride the bus all over the San Gabriel Valley to wash windows, McSween said. However, she is hoping for their sake that a home or business in Monrovia could offer them some work washing windows closer to their home.
McSween said that while some people act awkwardly when first meeting the brothers, there is no need to.
“Some people don’t know how to act when they’re around them because they’ve never been around them,” she said. “Because I’m retired from the Department of Justice and I used to work for the Department of Social Services … I have become accustomed to being around them. I kind of knew what level they were functioning on.”
In addition, she is accepting monetary donations and donations of household items for the brothers. For more information on donating to the Lewis brothers, please call McSween at (626) 695-4665.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. He can be followed via Twitter @segallanded.)
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