He's not exactly the 'Tim the Lawnmower Man'
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But, Neil Coutts gets a real, genuine buzz out of random acts of kindness, mowing and cleaning up verges and overgrown footpaths.
He also has gone as far as reaching out to MidCoast Council for assistance, with positive responses.
His neighbourly helping hand began when the Forster Neighbourhood Centre relocated from Tuncurry to the one time bottle shop, next door to the Lakes and Ocean Hotel.
"I saw that their small grass strip on the front of the centre was in need of some maintenance," Neil told the Great Lakes Advocate last week.
![Doing his neighbourly duties, Neil Coutts. Picture Jeanene Duncan. Doing his neighbourly duties, Neil Coutts. Picture Jeanene Duncan.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3rnwt4AzAvYzHH7HZKFKMv/313b0326-f4e5-47cd-92c0-9caae6efc53b.jpg/r0_0_3288_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It was starting to get out of control.
"As I'm the closest neighbour I took it upon myself to help out such a wonderful service and began mowing the grass and removing any unnecessary waste from their premises."
He also has taken it upon himself to spray the pathway for sneaky weeds, undertakes some common outdoor maintenance and has removed pallets and other general refuse.
"I've enjoyed doing it and when the centre knew who was doing this they where more than pleased when I introduced myself."
In fact when Neil finally did pop in and introduce himself, they were quite surprised believing council had been undertaking the work.
As I'm the closest neighbour I took it upon myself to help out such a wonderful service and began mowing the grass and removing any unnecessary waste from their premises.
- Good neighbour, Neil Coutts
While not a full-time resident, Neil and wife Sue drop over from their Dungog home to their home-away-from home Forster unit every fortnight.
Neil and Sue are well know in the community for their selfless, good deeds.
As well as raising three (now adult) biological children, the couple has adopted three special needs youngsters (now aged seven, 12 and 17 years).
"They keep us busy," the now retired self employed business man said.
![Neil Coutts outside his Forster unit. Picture Jeanene Duncan. Neil Coutts outside his Forster unit. Picture Jeanene Duncan.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3rnwt4AzAvYzHH7HZKFKMv/211ac022-a0e1-43bc-b298-5427cdeea01c.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
And, during the past three decades the couple also has fostered more than 50 children.
As if that would be enough, Neil travels to Lifeblood Maitland where he donates his plasma.
"It's just to give back to the community," he said.
Neil also takes his trusty mower into the Dungog community, mowing lawns while his children are at school.
He says this is about giving and taking, and works both ways.
Program manager, Corinne Stephenson said the Forster Neighbourhood Centre was grateful for Neil's support.
"As a charity that does not receive core operational funding, we spend a lot of time trying to educate the community on the importance of the work we do and attract volunteers to help share the load," she said.
"Building maintenance and mowing is just another task our overstretched staff need to try and co-ordinate. "Neil provides invaluable support to the centre by keeping an eye on our lawns and foyer area and just getting in and taking care of whatever needs to be done.
"Thanks to Neil, we can focus on efforts on supporting the community knowing the upkeep of the centre is taken care of.
"A massive load off, thank you Neil."