As the COVID-19 outbreak nearly cleared local store shelves of items such as toilet paper and disinfectants, Tom Grosh, owner of Grosh’s Lawn Service in Clear Spring, Maryland, gave away supplies, according to an article by Herald Mail Media.
“As I was sitting in the office doing some work at the end of the day, God said to me, ‘You gotta help your fellow man,’” Grosh says in the article.
So he bought 10 cases of toilet paper containing 96 rolls each, loaded them onto his pickup truck and headed for the parking lot outside Bill’s Barber Shop in Conococheague, Maryland, to hand out rolls to anyone who wanted them.
“I knew exactly where to go to get the toilet paper and went and bought it,” he says. “My wife said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ and there was no hesitation — when God tells me to do something, I do it.”
Although some takers offered to pay, Grosh refused and asked them to instead help someone else.
“God has blessed us in our business abundantly, and it’s our job to care for our community and not take advantage of a situation,” he says.
Grosh was joined by his wife, Karen; their niece, Delaney Renn, and sisters Anna and Madelyn Crowl, whose father owns the barber shop near the parking lot.
They waved “Free TP” signs to honks of approval and thumbs-ups from passing motorists on the busy highway.
One West Virginia resident came by and said his wife told him to buy toilet paper wherever he could find it, according to Grosh.
“So we gave him 10 rolls and told him to bless his neighbor with it,” Grosh says.
A Washington County Public Schools bus driver told Grosh she didn’t know if she would be paid during the two-week shutdown in response to the virus outbreak. She was very appreciative of the free toilet paper and planned to share some with a coworker, Grosh says.
“We’re trying to make a little bit of difference in our community,” he says. “We’re just trying to be a blessing and make somebody’s life a little bit better.”
