Remembering Karim: The Man Who Built A Community Through Kindness
Driving down Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge, Mass. you’ll pass Nick’s, a nondescript, two-pump gas station that looks no different from any other station in town. But if you talk to regular customers, they’ll say they go out of their way to fill up at Nick’s – even if it meant getting just a gallon of gas elsewhere so they could fill up at Nick’s.
That fierce devotion is in no small part due to Karim Alagha, who pumped gas at Nick’s for more than two decades, until shortly before his death in December 2012.
We spoke to his friends and longtime customers, who told us of the profound effect Karim’s “little acts of kindness” had on their lives, and the great lengths they went to to make sure Karim was comfortable during the final days of his own life.
