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November 12, 2008

A Good Deed in the Neighborhood

Justin Katz

This sort of good deed is so important:

Christopher and Terri Potts bought a fixer-upper house, pledging to tackle upgrades a little at a time as their toddler son, Jackson, grew up.

But the new father never got a chance to finish what he started. In the spring of 2004, less than a year after the family moved into their tiny ranch house on East Beardsworth Road, Christopher was shipped out to Iraq with his Rhode Island National Guard unit.

And there he died, that October, on his 38th birthday. ...

The organization, a part of the Rhode Island Builders Association, helps create better homes for wounded veterans or families of those killed in combat since Sept. 11, 2001. When its members heard about Potts' death, in a gun battle while serving with the Guard's Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 103rd Field Artillery Division, they knew they had their first project.

Four years after his death, Christopher Potts' home is mended, in more ways than one.

Nothing can recompense the heroic sacrifice, but such expressions of appreciation can at least go so far as to honor it.

Comments

It's stories like this that keep me hopeful of a brighter humanitarian future. It also saddens me to think why our Federal government plays more of an active role to assist welfare cheat, illegal aliens and bailout hungry high profile companies than it does to help out in situations like Terri Potts.

Perhaps I am wrong about our government and if I am, please someone tell me of programs designed for just such a case.

Posted by: Roland at November 13, 2008 12:08 AM