Help Dave as he recovers from heart surgery

Hi, I’m Lisa, and we are fundraising for our wonderful friend and neighbor, David (Dave) Beauford. Mr. Dave is undergoing a triple bypass on Valentine’s Day, of all days. His heart will be repaired on the same holiday reserved for celebrating heartfelt connections.

At our apartment building, which is a converted factory building in the Bywater area, Mr. Dave is the unofficial concierge and ambassador. If the power goes out, it’s Mr. Dave who is first out the door taking the arms off the parking lot gateway so we can drive our cars in and out. If a hurricane hits, it’s Mr. Dave who has a fully charged apparatus at the ready capable of firing up all our phones at once. If people are breaking into cars in the parking lot, Dave is the one who chases them off, not hesitating to run after them in hot pursuit. He takes care of all of us, always.

Mr. Dave also makes sure everyone is well fed. During the early stages of Covid, people were complaining about gaining “the Covid 15.” I laughed and called it the Mr. Dave 15, because he kept bringing me (and everyone else) Ms. Loretta’s famed beignets, a little piece of sugared heaven to get us through the monotony of the pandemic.

He feeds people outside the building, too. Every week, Mr. Dave goes to the store and buys mass quantities of fruit, then drives around handing it out to homeless people. They so appreciate his kindness. Dave also buys used guitars and other instruments, giving them away to young people he meets in his travels.

As a trim, fit man, this illness came as a shock, and it has upended his world as he knew it. In short, Mr. Dave is a wonderful human being who deserves our support now as he has steadfastly supported us.