NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. (WKTV) - A twist of fate brought two men together...now they're helping a community more than a thousand miles away.

David Childs is visiting New Hartford for the first time, and his friend, Ralph Humphreys, is showing him the sights!

"It's neat! I like it!" said Childs. "I got here last night. I didn't see much, but I've been driving around with Ralph all day today and I think it's fine!"

The two became fast friends thanks to what they call fate, and their common connection to New Hartford. You see, David Childs is from New Hartford, Connecticut, and he's here in our neck of the woods for one main purpose.

"I'm here to challenge New Hartford, New York to help New Hartford, Iowa," he said.

Earlier this Summer, a deadly tornado ripped through that tiny town in Iowa. Then two weeks later, heavy rain caused extensive flooding there.

When Childs heard about the destruction, he decided to help.

"So I started going around, knocking on some doors, talking to some churches, and people," he said. "They all seemed to think it was a great idea, and within about 10 days, I had almost $10,000."

At about the same time, Ralph Humprheys was planning to launch a similar campaign here in Central New York.

It's an effort to rebuild a small cemetery that suffered significant damage - goodwill from one New Hartford to another.

"It's not probably the first place you would go for help, but it's nice to know that there is some comradeship between towns of the same name," said Ralph Humphreys, from New Hartford, New York.

And there are a handful of other New Hartfords that David Childs hopes will get on board.

"I'm going to go to the other three someday soon, i hope!" he said.

If you would like to help out, you can make checks payable to the "Oak Hill Cemetery Foundation."

You can mail your donation to:

Ralph Humphreys
8686 Tibbitts Road
New Hartford, NY 13413.

He'll put all the checks together and mail them to New Hartford, Iowa.