The mist of water ricocheted off the porch as 17-year-old Elizabeth Hingle of Columbia used a pressure washer on the home of Bowling Green resident Sue Harris.

Hingle, her siblings and her mother, Ellen Hingle, came Tuesday to help Harris with projects around the house.

Ellen Hingle of Columbia met Harris after responding to an ad she saw in the newspaper about an entertainment center Harris had for sale. After a brief conversation about the struggle of being widows and finding help to get the little things done around the house, Ellen Hingle took it upon herself to offer Harris help.

“We just had a really nice talk,” Ellen Hingle said. “I asked her what she needed done because I know I’ve done a lot. My husband was in construction. … We just started talking, and that’s how I got to know her.”

Ellen Hingle got her children involved in helping replace wooden boards on a shed, pressure washing the porch and fixing a porch swing as a home-school project. She said helping people is a part of learning and that Jesus is the one who gives her the heart to want to help others.

“I want them to appreciate being able to help people, and it’s rewarding for them and for your heart. That’s why I said ‘OK, we’re off of school today. We’re going to do this’,” Ellen Hingle said.

Harris is thankful for the work the Hingles are doing around her property. She said it’s a sweet thing they’re doing and it’s great that the children are so willing to help.

“Nobody will never know how I’ve worried about getting that shed fixed,” Harris said. “The deck needed to be cleaned so, so, so bad. I’m not able to do it now.”

Ben Kirkpatrick, 17, of Bowling Green, is home-schooled as well, and Hingle asked him to join her kids in some of the tasks around Harris’ house. He helped take the original boards off of the shed and then put the new boards back up and painted them. 

“I just came out this morning to help,” Kirkpatrick said. “I’ve done stuff like this with my grandpa before.”

Elizabeth Hingle said it was cool that her mom wanted to help Harris and that she helps people a lot. She said it’s important to help people who are in need.

“Just to show them that people care,” Elizabeth Hingle said. 

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter @_SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.