11/4/22 my husband Jeff was injured after a tree fell through the cab of his excavator during a clearing operation. The tree landed on his foot crushing every bone and toe (minus his big toe) after 6 surgeries and one toe amputated he’s left with a foot with no bones or tendons attached to remaining toes.it looks like his days of underground Utlities, being able to walk the jobsite as a superintendent are over due to not being able to walk on uneven ground. My husband comes from a Mennonite family, his work ethics are beyond anyone I’ve ever met, in 20 years I can’t think of a missed day of work besides a scheduled vacation day. He’s alway taken the underdogs in life, people that no one else would hire and train them and make something out of them career wise. He has always believed in the pay it forward. A year ago he met a Mexican immigrant who had no skills at all, wasn’t even a good laborer on a pipe crew. Jeff explained to him that if he gives him 100%, shows up everyday no mater what , and never lies to him that in one year he will be able to move out of his parents and support himself and a family if that would occur. This young man didn’t believe him at all, and knew if Jeff made it happen he would need to pay it forward and help someone else in need. Manuel now is a tier 2 (supervisor trainee) making double the money he’s ever gotten, has full benefits including dental working as a city employee that Jeff helped him get here in Florida. We have been together since I was 13 and Jeff was 15, we have 5 children, 12 grandchildren, Jeff is now 49.Two weeks before the accident Jeff had 2 widow maker heart attacks and 14 days later this accident occurred. To survive that God still has a plan for him. He Just spent 30 days in the hospital , and has spent the last 30 days in bed except for dr appointments. This past week he finally got the enthusiasm to venture outside in his wheelchair. I feel depression is starting to set in, he’s worried about how he’s going to support his family. Disability pays nothing and his current Workman’s comp is only a small portion of his salary. Let me say WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR MONEY TO LIVE. I’ve taken a second job to help and we can just get by with the bills. His concern is what career path is next? What can he do? He knows that soon he’s gonna need to work, he has no skills that could replace that level of income. Stress has set in and after a few phone calls to multiple construction companies he came up with real estate photography and Ariel photography. Every month on large jobsites the bank or bonding agency requires a progress report with photos and Ariel/drone video of the continued progress of the job thus allowing the bank to release another monetary draw for each phase of construction. So the other day he went and bought a professional high resolution photo/video drone that has features I can’t even explain. It is not a toy at all, cost was well over $1700 used!!!he registered it with the FAA, past the trust test and is now going for his part 107 commercial license. So all were left with is obtaining a new camera and a laptop that can do video editing. The drone broke the bank. When I say broke the bank it’s like College days eating ramen everyday. Lol. So here we are begging for money, he found a nice camera package on Amazon that will do everything for real estate photography for $900 and a small laptop setup for photo and video editing for 2k. I know it’s a lot of money, but this man deserves a pay it forward for once in his life. Thank you in advance.
tonya