Showing Love To Neighbors In Mission Viejo: Local Heroes

MISSION VIEJO, CA —When times are tough, heroes emerge. We all know someone who's making a difference right now as we live through unprecedented and changing times.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these heroes making a difference in their communities. Together with Ring, we’re working to let all your neighbors know about these outstanding people and their stories.

This submission comes from Allison Pratt who nominated Joy Halverson and Karan Tarca of Mission Viejo. Halverson is a teacher, and Tarca is a business executive, but they are each much more than that, according to Pratt.

Not only are they friends and neighbors of Pratt and her husband, the pair have gone out of their way to help the older couple in time of coronavirus shutdown and subsequent months.

"My husband and I are older and have several health issues that make covid exposure a great risk," Pratt tells Patch. "These two amazing people got our shopping lists, and would buy and drop off our groceries so that we could avoid going to the grocery store. I'm sure it wasn't easy."

Both Halverson and Tarca went out of their way for their neighbors for weeks, according to the Pratt's. Now, the older couple feels safe enough to go shopping with proper precautions.

"Such kindness brought us such peace of mind," Pratt says. "We'll always remember their kindness."

Thank you for going the extra mile, Joy and Karen!

Do YOU have a local hero you would like us to know about? Share their story here. Read about other heroes from across California here.

All photos included in this post are owned by identified third parties who have given Patch the right to use explicitly for the Patch Local Heroes series.