Last month, he bundled up and headed out on his daily rounds. As the sun began to set, the 77-year-old great-grandfather was walking along Mill Street in Agawam, a busy two-lane road that runs through the center of the city.

As he crossed the street, he was struck by a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Five surgeries later, Coughlin remains at the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down. The crash has left relatives and neighbors reeling, struggling to understand how someone so selfless could suffer such misfortune and how to properly honor a man so dedicated to his cause.