WINCHESTER — In 2008, retired Army Staff Sgt. John Lewandowski founded the Veterans Community Resources nonprofit organization to assist Shenandoah Valley veterans. He ran it until 2014.
John S. Lewandowski (left) and Jorge Gutierrez pose at Lewandowski’s home on Tuesday. Gutierrez, chairman of the board of the Veterans Community Resources and a retired U.S. Army command sergeant major, secured a grant from Home Depot to renovate some doorways in Lewandowski’s home and to landscape his yard in Frederick County. (Photo by Ginger Perry/The Winchester Star
Recently, Lewandowski, a 67-year-old Winchester resident, found himself the beneficiary of his own brainchild.
Through grant dollars and/or volunteer projects, the Home Depot Foundation partners with thousands of nonprofit organizations to address the housing needs of veterans.
After Lewandowski sought help through Veterans Community Resources, Home Depot agreed to partner with the organization to provide free repairs to his home.
“[I] never thought I would be on the opposite side of helping veterans, but I needed it,” Lewandowski said.
On Aug. 15, a team from Home Depot reported for volunteer repair duty at Lewandowski’s home, where they fixed door frames and installed kick plates on doors to protect them from damage by the veteran’s wheelchair.
Lewandowski has used a wheelchair for 15 years.
“[The repairs] made a big difference,” he said. “There’s protection on the doors. I was afraid to go out and scratch them.”
According to Jorge Gutierrez, current head of Veterans Community Resources, it was the organization’s pleasure to sponsor Lewandowski.
“He’s in need,” said Gutierrez, a retired Army command sergeant major. “He’s helped many people before. Now it’s time to help him.”
Any nonprofit organization can sponsor a veteran and apply for help from Home Depot.
“I knew that the Home Depot people had done stuff for veterans before,” Lewandoski said. “I had used them before when I was doing my own veterans assistance.”
When an application is accepted, Home Depot employees arrive and examine what repair work needs to be done.
The company then provides the materials for the work and delivers it free of charge. The repairs are completed by volunteer employees.
“Home Depot volunteered their time and people,” Gutierrez said. “They came out here and spent all day working.”
In Lewandowski’s case, there was damage to his home’s door frames from years of accidentally running his motorized wheelchair into their sides. Additionally, the doors were disfigured from the chair pushing them open.
“It’s very easy for a person in a wheelchair to hit doors and frames,” Lewandowski said.
The volunteers also worked outside the home, landscaping the garden and laying down 100 bags of mulch.
“The landscaping outside is a miraculous thing,” Lewandowski said.
This part of the job was especially important to him because the garden was his late wife’s hobby. His wife, Katherine, passed away in March.
Photo’s by Ginger Perry, Winchester Star
“She was the one that did all the landscaping,” Lewandowski said. “We wanted to honor her.”
Work on the home is ongoing. On Wednesday, Matt Boley and his Strasburg-based company Boliever LLC repaired the railing in the garage after assisting in the door repairs.
“It makes it more accessible for a handicapped person to use,” Lewandowski said.
One of the best things about the repairs, he added, is that they have returned his home to its former glory. Boliever LLC repaired the railing in the garage after assisting in the door repairs.
“It makes it more accessible for a handicapped person to use,” Lewandowski said.
One of the best things about the repairs, he added, is that they have returned his home to its former glory.
“The renovations brought my house back to the luster that it was,” Lewandowski said.
“The renovations brought my house back to the luster that it was,” Lewandowski said.
— Contact Stephen Nielsen at snielsen@winchesterstar.com Follow on Twitter @LifeWinStar