FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — Amanda Ambrose doesn’t sleep with a hammer clutched in her hands anymore. The stalker she feared would break into her Flatbush home is gone, and she says its because her neighbor Wally came to her rescue. So when Wally lost the SNAP benefits he relies upon to buy food, Ambrose said she knew it was time to return the favor.
“Wally protects me in my neighborhood,” the Brooklyn attorney said. “I didn’t want to stand by passively and allow him to starve.”
Ambrose, 35, launched a GoFundMe campaign this week to raise the $1,500 she estimates it will cost to keep Wally fed for one year. In just two days, dozens of locals have pitched in to earn $550.
“Wally is good people,” wrote Mabel Harrison.
“Wally is the kindest soul,” added Erin Samuelsen. “Always feel safer knowing he is around.”
Samuelsen is not the only one.
Ambrose has been indebted to Wally since 2017, when he chased away a terrifying stalker who papered their neighborhood with hundreds of fliers that showed Ambrose’s photo and home address.
Ambrose contacted police, frantically tore down the photos, which had been posted with extra-strong construction glue, and began sleeping with a hammer in case the man broke into her home, she said.
She also told Wally.
“I found out a year later that he had seen this man come to my part of Brooklyn at two a.m.,” Ambrose said. “Wally chased him away.”
“Once I learned that this person had been chased away by my friend, I felt safe.”
Since then, Wally has often walked Ambrose home from the subway station when she returns home from work at 3 a.m., she said. And when Ambrose lost three family members in a short period of time in 2016, and began walking around the neighborhood “with this face of grief,” Wally was there.
“He asked me what was going on and he gave me a hug,” said Ambrose. “I’m not special, he does this for everybody.”
Ambrose describes Wally as “a fixture” who helps out his neighbors when he can in exchange for a hot meal. Wally lost both his parents, who left him in debt, and is unable to hold a steady job because of a health condition, she said.
“Life dealt him a tough hand,” Amborse wrote. “But he greets everyday with an upbeat personality that brings cheer to everyone he meets.”
Neighbors often buy Wally his favorite meal — Philly cheesesteaks and coffees — and last year Ambrose’s family got him a new coat and a Christmas stocking stuffed with candy bars.
Ambrose is hopeful she’ll be able to surprise him with a cash card soon, she said. Until then, she’ll continue to enjoy the quick meals and walks home from the subway, all of which end with Wally telling Ambrose one thing.
“He tells me, ‘I love you, be safe.'”
Photo courtesy of GoFundMe, a Patch media partner
