Upon notifying a shopper that he had won a $1,000 Exchange gift card in a Black Friday drawing sponsored by Subway, Cynthia Gregg, the main store manager at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Exchange, asked him what he planned to do with his prize.
“I don’t need anything,” the shopper said. “I’m going to give it away to homeless Veterans. I just don’t know where to start.”
The shopper, a disabled Navy Veteran, also said he wanted to buy toys for children—but he didn’t know where to start there, either. Overwhelmed by his generosity, Gregg and the Wright-Patterson team offered to do the shopping for him.
“I came from a basic-training facility where we built backpacks for trainees,” said Gregg, who recently PCS’d to Wright-Patterson from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. “I thought this was similar. So we put together a toothbrush, a toothbrush holder, long underwear, sweatpants, T-shirts and socks.”
In addition to her experience at JBSA-Lackland, Gregg remembered that her church in San Antonio would put together packages with similar items, which are among the most-needed at homeless shelters.
Gregg told the Veteran about the Toys for Tots boxes at the Wright-Patterson BX’s two Home & Garden departments. While Home & Garden Supervisor Betty Concepcion escorted him to the boxes and helped with his toy shopping, Gregg, Sales & Merchandise Manager Sandra Church, and Military Clothing Store Manager Kim Dawes put together eight duffel bags filled with clothing.
“Our office area was covered in piles of underwear, socks and sweats,” Gregg said. “We had a little assembly line going for him. When he came back, he helped us pack everything up. It was very efficient.”
The Veteran spent most of his winnings on “comfort bags” items toys.
“He came back later in the evening and said, ‘The bags have all been given out to the VA home in Dayton. I just drove up and told them I wanted to donate these eight duffel bags and clothing care bags.’ They asked what organization he was with. ‘I’m not from anybody,’ he said. ‘It’s just from me.’ “
Gregg learned that about a year and a half ago, when the Veteran was living in North Carolina, his house burned. “When he was commenting on supporting homeless Veterans, he said, ‘I know what it’s like, because I’ve been there’,” she said.
The Veteran didn’t want his name used because he didn’t want any recognition for his good deeds. But the Wright-Patterson team will remember him.
“He felt very good about it,” Gregg said. “It was just so heartwarming because he’s been through so much. We made him feel like part of our family. We’re family serving family, and we just happened to have the resources and knowledge. We were all in to help him.”
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