Community rallies around city councilman whose daughter passed away

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Despite the rain on Saturday morning, dozens of people from Montgomery rallied around one city councilman whose daughter recently passed away.

Glen Pruitt’s daughter, Courtney, lost her battle to cancer on Thursday.

Aside from being a city councilman, Pruitt is an entrepreneur who owns his own lawn business, Pruitt Lawn Care.

“He’s a one-man lawn service, so when he’s been in Birmingham with Courtney, beside her every day, every minute, he just got a little bit behind on his yard work," said Doug Singleton, one of Pruitt’s friends.

Singleton has known Pruitt for over 40 years, and when he heard of Courtney’s passing, he knew something needed to be done to help his friend during his time of need.

“We got a group of about 50 guys, some know Glen, some don’t know Glen. A lot of people that own lawn services have volunteered their time to come out and help Glen," said Singleton. “We assigned one or two lawns to each person, but some of the lawn services have picked up most of the bigger duplex stuff.”

Zach Underwood was one of the people who volunteered on Saturday.

“I heard about the news, and I knew he was in a time of need. So, I just came out here and figured this was a perfect time to help. He had done so much for the community and I figured it was the perfect time to help him in return," Underwood said.

Underwood is just 13 years old. He doesn’t know Pruitt personally, nor did he know Pruitt’s daughter, Courtney, but he said volunteering his time was the “least he could do.”

“It was truly amazing just seeing how everyone would wake up, fighting for the same cause, doing good in the community. It was really good to see," Underwood said.

Singleton was also shocked by the outpouring of support from the community.

“I just posted it on Facebook and the response was tremendous. Within an hour, I had over 95 to 100 comments of people wanting to volunteer,” Singleton said.

Singleton was clear that he didn’t want this story to be about Pruitt’s daughter, Courtney. He said he would rather the story be about how great the community of people living in Montgomery is. Singleton said that’s what Pruitt would want and that’s what Courtney would want as well.

“This makes me proud to be in Montgomery County, and to live in Montgomery and be surrounded with people. These are good folks that will help a neighbor, or help a friend when they need some help and they are always willing to step up," Singleton said.

Visitation for Courtney has been set for May 14 from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at Frazer United Methodist Church. Her celebration of life will be held May 15 at 3:30 p.m. at Frazer United Methodist Church.

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