Four years ago, two close friends single-handedly cared for stranded elderly and mentally ill residents who were abandoned at a failing assisted-living facility in Castro Valley.
The two men worked as a janitor and a cook. The rest of the employees left, after the home abruptly shut down and they stopped getting paid. But Miguel Alvarez and Maurice Rowland stayed on, spending three days tending to the needs of the abandoned patients, until emergency workers came to their aid. The two reflected in a StoryCorps booth about what that formative experience was like.
"If you happen to come into a situation like the situation we had, just do the right thing. Treat people the way you wanted to be treated."
If you want to interview a loved one for Storycorps at the San Francisco Public Library, you can make an online reservation here.