Best of 2020: ‘Give Them a Little Bit of Hope’
The signs on Tibbs and Pemberton were a welcome surprise for the neighborhood, seemingly popping up overnight.
In bright, sunny, yellow, messages like, “You are stronger than you think,” “We are in this together,” and “New Day. New Thoughts. New Strength. New Possibilities” lined the streets that are frequently populated by neighbors out on walks with friends – or their dogs.
When People Newspapers deputy editor Bethany Erickson saw them in June, she immediately put her car in park, hopped out, and took pictures. After posting them on Instagram and asking readers to help her find out who was responsible, she was able to talk to the Goldstein family.
Abby, Brian, Teva, and Sawyer Goldstein began making and putting the signs out after the October 2019 tornado ravaged their neighborhood.
“We would drive into Pemberton and see all those homes that were just ravaged, and it was just so sad,” Abby said. “So it started out, ‘Let’s do everybody on Pemberton’–just give them a little bit of hope, you know, that they’re back in this neighborhood and we’re all in this together.”
Those signs ended up being a balm for many, including Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who posted about them on Twitter after a bike ride one day.
“What really hit me about this story was that the Goldstein’s were going through their own sadness at the time, too,” said Erickson. “Abby’s father was quite sick with stage four cancer, and had been admitted to UT Southwestern. But the family used the signs not only to lift up their neighbors, but to help them process their own feelings, too.”
