McHenry County veterans getting the call: Awards announced for 30 Days for 30 Vets

A local veteran got a call last week and didn’t believe it when he was told he would get a new washer and dryer.

The McHenry County vet thought the call was a scam until he heard the details and that his name – and need – was nominated for the 30 Days for 30 Vets program, Dawn Bremer said.

Coordinated by her McHenry-based real estate firm, The Bremer Team-Keller Williams Success Realty, Bremer and others stepped up to help raise about $200,000-plus in donations, pledges and in-kind help to give 30 veterans the gift of a needed home improvement throughout November.

A veteran a day is getting a call, letting them know they will get much-needed items ranging from new kitchen appliances or countertops to hot water heaters, new roofs and more.

One of those who got the call was U.S. Navy veteran Brian Nosko. The Crystal Lake man is set to get six or seven windows installed in his home to replace some that are failing.

Nosko, 55, served on the destroyer USS David R. Ray from 1987 to 1989 based out of San Fransisco. He has service-connected disability from his time in the military and works part time at Veterans Path to Hope in Crystal Lake in its peer support and food pantry programs.

He knew that a co-worker at Veterans Path to Hope had nominated him for the program, but still was surprised when he got the call.

“I was confounded for about 30 seconds before I was, ‘Oh, yeah,’” Nosko said. “I was pleasantly surprised and honestly a little teary. Veterans are used to giving to others and not very good at taking.”

That call came from Michael Adams, a Bremer agent and U.S. Marine veteran. He said that several of the recipient veterans contacted so far wanted to offer their prize to another who might need it more.

“It just goes to show their continued selflessness,” Adams said.

Nosko will be contacted in a few weeks from Home Depot to schedule the work replacing windows in the kitchen and in the back of his house that have rotted away.

“Taking this off my plate allows me to breath a little easier,” Nosko said.

Thomas Ewertowski, a U.S. Army veteran from Huntley who served in the Vietnam War, will get a call from Jett Heating and Air to replace the family’s air conditioning and heating, he said.

The air conditioning went out in June, so Ewertowski bought window units to ensure that his wife, who has a heart condition, would not get overheated. He also knew he’d need to have the furnace and the cooling system looked at as winter approaches.

“The furnace is too old,” Ewertowski said, and he was set to call for estimates when Michael Adams, one of the Realtors who works with Bremer, called.

“I tell you, it was an early Christmas present. This was going to be costly to do this, so I am really thrilled.” Ewertowski said.

Those calls will continue throughout November, but Bremer hopes to make 30 Days for 30 Vets become something bigger. She, Adams and others in the program are looking into getting federal nonprofit status for the group and making it permanent. “Every November we could have 30 vets get this, or maybe we will build it into something even more incredible,” Bremer said.

What is needed now is expertise, Bremer said. While Home Depot has offered $65,000 in local grants and labor, and many others have donated gift cards to buy supplies, what they need is the manpower to finish the promised projects.

“Right now, our call to action is help ... to remodel a bathroom” or a kitchen, Bremer said. “Home Depot will supply the cabinets and the finishings, but we will have to ask ‘who can help demolish a bathroom today?’”

Those interested in helping with the projects are asked to email bremerteaminfo@gmail.com.

Bremer and Adams are in the process of notifying recipients and project scheduling is underway depending on manpower. Each day this month, a new recipient’s story appears on the 30 Days for 30 Vets and Bremer Team Facebook pages.