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West Allegheny
Featured Stories |
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Heroes Supporting Heroes |
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BY DOUG HUGHEY |
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When
Air Force Master Sergeant
John Lee was deployed to
Afghanistan in 2011 with the
911th Civil Engineering
Corps based in Moon, his
wife, Sheri, had plenty of
people offering to help with
whatever they could during
John’s seven-month
deployment.
Sheri knew, however, that
there was only so much
others could do, and that
there was only so much she
would think to ask of them.
A certain pride that goes
with being a member of a
military family, and an
unsaid agreement that keeps
families from sharing their
day-to-day struggles with
deployed loved ones, often
means that they end up going
it alone.
“There’s an understanding
that families don’t want to
heap all their troubles on
you and add any more stress
to a stressful situation,”
says John, who, before
joining the Air Force,
served with the Marine Corps
for six years.
As a Marine, John served
in Operation Desert Storm,
Operation Enduring Freedom,
and in four tours in
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
After John returned home
from his most recent
deployment, it took about
another full year before he,
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Sheri, and their two young children, Caleb
and Lily, felt as though they were really
back to life as normal, says Sheri. The
experience got them wondering what other
families must go through, and what, if
anything, they could do for them.
With that in mind, last August John and some
of the 26 Civil Engineering Corps members
he’d been deployed with formed a volunteer
organization they dubbed Heroes Supporting
Heroes. In Afghanistan, the Corps had been
tasked with rebuilding Afghani
infrastructure while the U.S. worked to prop
up the government against extremist Taliban
forces. Their work ranged from repairing
airstrips and building temporary army bases
to constructing schools and police stations,
some while under fire amidst a war with
nebulous front lines. John and his fellow
airmen didn’t see why they couldn’t apply
those same civil engineering skills to help
military families with loved ones on active
duty.
In September, HSH started by sending
letters to the households of 911th military
personnel who were about to be deployed,
with offers to help with services ranging
from snow removal and cleaning out gutters
to car and appliance maintenance. A month
later, they got their first phone call, from
the spouse of a deployed airman whose water
heater had broken. HSH passed around a hat
and raised a couple hundred dollars. Knowing
it was hardly enough to buy a new water
heater, they approached Lowes store manager
Allen Lerch at The Pointe in North Fayette.
When they told Allen about their
organization, he sold them a water heater
for what they had at a 70% discount, and
expressed a willingness to help HSH in the
future. |
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That same month, amidst a slow recovering
economy, HSH was contacted with another
request. A fellow airman had returned from a
tour of duty and couldn’t find work. Because
HSH had already contacted the national
Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, they
were able to petition help from Commander
Bill Miller at VFW Post 7714 in Imperial.
The post donated $1,300 to help the airman
pay rent and bills, while HSH sought out a
job lead.
Since then, HSH has cleaned out gutters and
cut grass. They recently built a
wheelchair-accessible ramp for a World War
II veteran with about $700 worth of lumber
donated, once again, by Lowes at The Pointe.
HSH has also contacted Sears, which offered
to discount appliances. Plans are to have
Sunrise Accounting in Imperial do taxes.
John is currently completing paperwork
needed to apply for nonprofit 501c(3)
status.
Among those who have expressed interest in
the organization are State Representative
Mark Mustio and Findlay Township Supervisor
Tom Gallant. Earlier this year, Tom
suggested that HSH reach out to senior
citizens, and in May, the organization
started doing just that.
John says he’d like to see HSH eventually
develop into a hub and spoke arrangement
that mirrors the military’s own system of a
central base with outposts. He’d like to
have people identify needs in their own
communities, report those back to HSH, which
would assign volunteers to each task. As HSH
continues to work on projects with trained
carpenters and electricians, he envisions
mentoring opportunities for Boy Scouts and
youth groups. In exchange, he’d like to see
people pay whatever they can, even if it’s
just a couple dollars to cover gas.
John says they have about 40 volunteers from
the 911th, many of whom have been donating
time after having their hours cut as a
result of the recent sequestration. Now a
program analyst for the federal government’s
Office of Personnel Management, John was
also once the owner of a tree removal
service.
To learn more, contact John Lee, (412)
952-7098, or e-mail:
HDJJLEE@gmail.com. |
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