Families with troops stationed overseas who need home projects done can call on a willing army of volunteers.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and GRAHAM BRINK
Published December 25, 2003
RIVERVIEW - The backyard play set came with dozens of wooden parts. With all the screws and bolts it seemed like thousands.
The mother of three, married to a deployed U.S. serviceman, fretted about how to get it built in time for Christmas.
Enter the volunteers from Operation Homefront.
They drilled and screwed and hammered and occasionally read the instructions.
And voila!
One play set, complete with a slide, monkey bars and swings.
"These guys are truly angels," said the mother, who asked that her name not be published because her husband is away on active duty.
"There's no way I could have done this on my own," she said.
Bob Graviss Jr. founded Operation Homefront in March - just as the United States prepared to invade Iraq. Graviss, a self-employed real estate broker who lives in Northdale, and his wife, Gina, were driving home from a dinner with friends that included discussion of the pending war. As he sat at a red light on Dale Mabry Highway, he thought, What can an ordinary guy like me do to help?
"By the next stoplight, I had it," recalled Graviss, whose son Bobby is a former Marine now living in Tampa.
"All these spouses have left a family and a home life, and they're not around to do the things around the house that they used to. I thought, President Bush is putting together a coalition to get Saddam. So why don't we put together a coalition of volunteers to help the families left here at home?"
Today the nonprofit group has a database of more than 550 volunteers ready to help spouses and children waiting for their loved ones to return. The Tampa Bay area plumbers, electricians, doctors, dentists, handymen, mechanics, car dealers and babysitters offer their services free or at reduced cost.
"We are helping someone who needs helping while their loved ones are away keeping our country safe," said Dick Nelson, a home handyman who volunteered his services to help build the play set. "It's that simple."
Operation Homefront also has a long list of sororities, churches, fraternities and Girl Scout troops who performed chores and errands in recent months.
A few weeks ago, a woman with a broken refrigerator got a visit from a repairman who went to her house after his regular work day. The repairman got $300 from Operation Homefront to buy her a new compressor, then installed it free of charge.
Homefront has raised about $30,000, Graviss said. But in the months after President Bush declared an end to major combat, the flow of donations became a trickle.
"Now it's almost dry," Graviss said.
That's bad news for the three dozen families on Homefront's waiting list for parts and repairs that cost more than $100, including the woman who needs a new refrigerator. Graviss said a repairman goes to the woman's house to refill the refrigerator's compressor every week or so, but that's only a temporary remedy.
"I think people think the war is over," Graviss said. "But we're still here, and families still need our help. We're putting on new roofs, repairing refrigerators."
For the holiday season, Operation Homefront established Holiday Hugs, a program modeled after Toys for Tots but directed at military families.
This week, Homefront volunteers delivered the last of $1,300 worth of toys to 43 military families. The families with spouses deployed through the Reserves and National Guard were targeted first, Graviss said, because they tend to struggle the most financially when the reservist spouse's civilian salary is gone.
Holiday Hugs wouldn't have happened without Successful Financial Retirement Co. of New Port Richey, Graviss said. The company heard about Operation Homefront's latest effort and decided to donate the $1,000 usually spent on a mass Christmas card mailing.
The money helped pay for board games, DVDs and other wrapped gifts for dozens of Tampa Bay children identified by the Reserves and National Guard. Also, residents dropped off toys and money at Kelly Realty in Lutz and Land O'Lakes.
"We just wanted these children to have something that reminded them that their parents love and miss them," Graviss said. "And that we appreciate the sacrifices they're making."
