Culley kids demonstrate helpfulness

Twelve-year-old Adam Culley wants to be a policeman or a basketball player when he grows up.

His brother, Jace, 10, wants to be a banker, like his father.

Their youngest brother, Ryan, 9, wants to be a professional baseball or soccer player.

Their only sister, Cassidy, 4 1/2, plans to be a baby doctor.

Even if their plans about what they want to be when they grow up change, one thing is for certain: They want to be someone’s good neighbor.

The four kids like to spend their time helping their neighbors.

Ryan likes to tell the story of the time he went to visit a friend. Since the friend wasn’t there, he started to walk home.

He noticed one of the neighbors raking leaves in the front yard and decided to help.

“We kind of look for an opportunity to do something,” Ryan said.

Their mother, Lora, said that the kids have learned from her and their father, Sam, their church and the Boy Scouts that it’s important to help others when they can.

The four have been known to pick up mail for vacationing neighbors, bring in garbage cans and help shovel snow. They even helped a neighbor load up a moving van.

Their mother said that they worked from 3 to 10 p.m. on a Friday and then went back the next day.

Jace said that his favorite thing to do for the neighbors is to mow their lawns.

But Cassidy’s and Adam’s favorite neighborly activity is dropping off cupcakes. Lora bakes them – the kids help by licking the bowl – and Cassidy is in charge of carrying the cupcakes to the neighbors.

During the Christmas season, the kids spread holiday cheer by singing carols in the neighborhood.

Lora said that she discusses the idea of “paying it forward” with the children often. She hopes that if the kids do something nice for one person, those kind acts will continue to other people.

She said she thinks people appreciate what the children do for them.

“You never know what kind of day someone’s had,” Lora said. She thinks it makes both the children feel good about doing a good turn, and the neighbors feel good, too.

The kids said that they don’t usually accept payment for the help they give to their neighbors, but there was the time when Ryan helped wash a couple of cars and the car owner insisted.

The Culley children don’t just spend their time being neighborly.

Adam plays basketball, Jace plays quarterback on his football team, Ryan likes math and loves to play baseball, and all three boys are involved in Scouting. Cassidy is good friends with the next door neighbors and likes to say hello to them when she sees them.

The Culleys are still kids, but they are learning lessons that many grown-ups don’t know. Being a good neighbor means looking around and seeing what needs to be done.

And pitching in can be rewarding, too.

“It’s hard work,” Ryan said. “But it pays off by helping them and knowing we did a good thing.”