September 5, 2026

Re: Letter regarding Igors [last name]

My name is Alex Forkosh. I live in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois. I am writing for Igors [last name], who has been a neighbor and a close family friend of ours for many years.

I have known Igors and his family since about 2008, when they moved in next door to us in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Our kids were the same age, so the friendship started in the yard and around the dinner table more than anywhere else. The two households spent a lot of time together. I have known him as a neighbor, a friend, and someone I have worked alongside on real jobs around both of our houses — not as a casual acquaintance.

Igors is a good husband and a good father. That is the first thing I would say about him. In the years I have known him, his first attention has been his family: showing up for his kids, keeping the household running, and making decisions with their needs in mind. You can see it in how he talks about them and in how he spends his time. That is the person I have seen day to day, not an occasional impression.

He is an electrician by trade, and he is the person neighbors call when something in a house actually has to get fixed. He is known in our community as a capable, available handyman — the kind of neighbor people are glad to have. When people have household problems, he helps. He does not advertise it. He just comes.

Two examples from our own properties are typical of how he works, and of the kind of friend he is. During heavy rain seasons our sump pumps were running constantly, and I started a project to put in French drains. Igors showed up and stayed with it. We did not stop at my yard. We built a drainage solution that served both houses. He treated it as a shared problem, not a favor he could walk away from.

Another time a transformer failed near our homes and damaged the fence between our lots. Instead of putting the fence back as it was, we spent several weeks working together and turned that strip into a small playground. Our kids used it, and so did other kids from the neighborhood — a shaded place to play next to both houses. Watching the kids out there afterward is still one of the better memories from those years. That was his idea of a repair: leave the block better than we found it.

I am glad to confirm what I have seen over these years. Igors is hardworking, reliable, and rooted in his family and in the community around him. I am proud to call him a friend, and I am available if anyone wants to reach me about this letter.