GREENE – Don Schaffer lives by Stephen Grellet’s passage. He has it hanging on his wall.

He also has another sign he made himself. It simply reads: “Because Nice Matters.” That one’s placed above the entrance to his apartment, where everyone can see.

“If you can help someone, or show them kindness, why not do it now?” said Schaffer. “That’s my philosophy.”

Schaffer, 75, manages the Woodside Manor Apartments in Greene. He was recently named the “New York Rural Development Site Manager of the Year for Family Housing,” an award his tenants nominated him for.

This morning residents and employers, along with state and local officials presented him with the award during a ceremony at Woodside, located on West Juliand Street.

“He goes above and beyond his job, and he’s always willing to help people,” said Caryl Couch, who’s lived in the apartment complex for 11 years, of Schaffer. “If you call, he’s there. Don’s just all-around good.”

His official duties include mowing, painting, plumbing, shoveling snow, showing apartments and general maintenance. It’s the extra things he does – taking residents to the doctor, or helping them get heating assistance – that set Schaffer apart.

“I look out for the people here because, in a way, we’re like family. We are family,” the site manager said. “They really appreciate it. I appreciate them.”