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Neighbors Helping Neighbors

LIMESTONE TOWNSHIP — Harvesting corn is a grain farmer’s livelihood. And any one of these guys will tell you, it’s important to harvest corn b...

LIMESTONE TOWNSHIP -- Harvesting corn is a grain farmer's livelihood. And any one of these guys will tell you, it's important to harvest corn before it snows.

"It's vital to get this done and on time," Lucas Criswell said.

John Snook is a farmer near Mifflinburg who knows how important this is. But for the first time in decades, John was not able to farm. About a month ago, he found out he had a brain tumor, which made farming impossible.

"Getting in and out of the equipment and crawling in and out of the truck," Snook said.

John asked his neighbor and friend, Dennis Boop to help him. Dennis took it a step further. He asked everyone in the Mifflinburg young farmer's organization to help for free.

"He said he didn't want this to happen, but I thought as a group we'd come in and do it," Boop said.

About 50 of John's neighbors and friends came with their own equipment. There was no hesitation.

"All the guys who are helping here all had other things to do, but when there is something like this that pulls everyone together, we just drop everything and come do it," Criswell said.

To put this into perspective, the crew farmed about 80 acres in one day. That would take John about three weeks to do by himself.

"I was really surprised that we were done this fast," Snook said.

"It's all in a bin now and it's one less stress he has to worry about," Criswell said.

It was hard for John to put into words how much this means to him and his wife.

"I'm just so thankful and happy for everybody that came here," Snook said.

Dennis and the rest of the farmers are happy to help.

"It was just a good thing to do for somebody who is ailing and has issues and maybe someday I might need it," Boop said.

"This is something I don't have to worry about and the next couple of days I can go for treatments and things," Snook said.

John Snook tells Newswatch 16 all of the help is a big relief, and how he can focus on what is most important...his health.

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