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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 1, 2008 No. 08-108A COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT “OPERATION SOLDIER ASSIST” TO BENEFIT FORMER KANSAS NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIER Home remodeling professionals and other volunteers from the Kansas City
area will spend Sat., Oct. 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Leavenworth,
Kan., making repairs and renovations to the home of Sean Resare (2248
Vilas, Leavenworth), who served in the Kansas National Guard for 17 years.
A ceremony will be held at 4 pm. finalizing the day’s events. Resare was a staff sergeant when injured in Iraq in February 2006. He
served in Iraq from November 2005 to November 2006 – his second deployment
with the National Guard – participating in more than 400 missions.
During one of these missions, Resare’s vehicle was hit by an improvised
explosive device (IED) and he suffered a concussion and several shrapnel
wounds. Resare received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with valor for
his actions during this mission. Two others in the vehicle were killed
– Sgt. Jesse Davila, a fellow Kansas Army National Guard Soldier
from Greensburg, Kan., and Dan Kuhlmeier, who was a civilian Special Agent
for investigations assigned to the U.S. Air Force, from Philadelphia,
Penn. This year’s “Operation Soldier Assist” is in honor of
this Soldier and the civilian who served with Resare. Two oak trees will
be planted in Resare’s front yard during closing ceremonies at 4
p.m. A bench will be installed under both oak trees that will have the names
of Davila and Kuhlmeier engraved on them. Volunteers will be giving away oak tree saplings for donations throughout
the day. The money raised will be put into a college scholarship for Davila’s
daughter. The Second Annual “Operation Soldier Assist” is a community
service project of Kansas City NARI (National Association of the Remodeling
Industry), in cooperation with the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the
Association of the United States Army. Kansas City NARI members will donate materials and labor to accomplish
a number of remodeling projects to Resare’s home, including painting
the house; reconstructing the front porch railing; and adding a bedroom
closet, an attic staircase, flooring for a storage room, tile in the entryway,
new carpet in the home office and new blinds for the living room. “We appreciate the hard work of these two organizations in making
this project a reality,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the Adjutant
General of Kansas. “It’s wonderful to see such community support
for our Guard members and their families.” Kansas National Guardsmen, Leavenworth High School Jr. ROTC and the Leavenworth
VFW are among other local organizations volunteering their time to “Operation
Soldier Assist.” Resare and his wife, Kim, have three children. Their daughter, Candice,
is with the U.S. Army Reserves 308th PsyOps Battalion. She has had one
deployment to Iraq. Their son, Jon, is a junior at Leavenworth High School
and is in the Junior ROTC program. Jessica is 10 and is in 5th grade.
Kim’s father served in the Army for 20 years. Kansas City NARI is a professional non-profit trade association representing
more than 290 professional remodeling experts, including contractors,
manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers and lenders. For more information,
visit www.remodelingkc.com. The Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Association of the United States
Army is one of 127 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) chapters
located in nine regions worldwide. AUSA is a private, non-profit educational
organization committed to supporting America’s Army--Active, National
Guard, Reserve, Civilians, Retirees, and family members. For more information,
visit www.kcausa.org. -30- |
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