BRINGING A HERO HOME

A member from the Engine Plant recently reached out to my Chairman, Bob Brezovsky, on behalf of a family in need. A local family was trying to bring home their grandfather, Korean War Army Veteran Donald Jones, prior to Easter. Mr. Jones was in a nursing home and was going through dialysis three times a week. Because of the way his home was set up, the family didn’t have a way to get him in and out of his home safely for his much-needed treatments and the nursing home was reluctant to release him back to the family on a full-time basis.

After meeting with the family and assessing their home setup, Mr. Brezovsky came to me and asked my thoughts on helping to bring him home. Our unit has an annual golf outing fundraising activity, and most of our funds go to sending care packages to troops deployed and donations to both local and federal programs that care for our Veterans. Because our mission continues to evolve with less troops sent in harms way, my answer was a resounding yes that we should do everything we could to help the family.

With the help of three more members of the Skilled Trades Unity team, we were able to successfully install a ramp in his home. As we were wrapping up our work, we had the family do a test run to ensure there were no issues that needed to be addressed. They brought Mr. Jones down the ramp in his wheelchair to visit and he was able to take a couple of photos with us and meet our team. A member of the family asked after taking pictures, how much they owed us for the job. I knelt beside Mr. Jones and shook his hand and told her that he had already paid for the work. She looked at me perplexed and I told her that “a long time ago, he had written a blank check to our Nation, that he was willing to pay the ultimate price to ensure our Freedom and to keep our country safe”. We were honored to show our gratitude to him and to repay him for his sacrifice.

I want to personally thank Mr. Rich Wiacek, Dearborn Engine, for bringing the family’s need to us. I also want to recognize Bob Brezovsky, Doug Tobiczyk, George Hamilton and Bob Hall for their hard work that ultimately provides a lifeline for Mr. Jones family. The ramp will allow him to remain home and not return to the nursing home.