A 17-year-old in Rotterdam who just lost his beloved mother to cancer had a tough road ahead, especially when his power was shut off. That’s when a network of people led by a very determined neighbor stepped in.

Amie Wilson hit it off with her Rotterdam neighbor Larissa years ago. Larissa passed away right before Christmas, leaving behind her 17-year-old son, Gunnar.

Friends pulled together a Christmas for him. Alternative Storage donated space when he needed to move out.

“When they turned the power off, Gunnar and I were like, ‘OK, we have to start getting things out of the house immediately,'” said Wilson. “So I put on Facebook I was looking for help to raise some money to maybe pay for a year. The owners reached out to me, and she said we would like to donate that. We met up with them, I mean wonderful, wonderful people. She was like, for however long he needs it, it’s his.”

His friend’s family took him in.

Wilson noticed Gunnar had outgrown his bed and he had to sleep diagonally in it.

“I was like, ‘Gunnar, how are you sleeping in this bed,’ and he was like, ‘I don’t really fit!’ So we ended up saying ‘OK, he needs a bedroom set,'” said Wilson.

They got that, and tackled prom. Wilson sold cookies to earn tickets, and they got him everything he needs – suit, tie, shoes, and flowers.

NewsChannel 13 asked Wilson why she does all of this.

“I loved his mom. I had always told her I would always look out for him, always,” she said. “I have to. I think he deserves that, to have somebody love him like his mother loved him. Because she loved him a lot. Like, she lived for him.”

“He’s young, and I want to see him make it in life. That’s why, you know,” she continued, wiping away tears.

Wilson takes him to school every day and to Little League concessions when he works there. The mother of five says she’s grateful for her family support system.

“It just makes things easier,” she said. “Then we see a kid who doesn’t have that, that has grown up just next door, you want to give him that.”

She says she wants Gunnar to be set up for success just like any other child.

Her next project is a desk and chair, and a driving permit, because he plans to go to college.