Debbie Quackenbush has made a promise: She will do everything in her power to make sure veterans returning from the war in Iraq do not experience the homecoming her brother and his friends received when they came back from Vietnam.
“They gave up so much, and nobody gave a damn,” says Quackenbush, the founder of Niwot-based American Military Families, which will celebrate its third anniversary in January. “It is my hope to never have to relive a Vietnam in this country again.”
Her first mission was to get the “Support the Troops” vanity license plate approved in Colorado. Then she moved on to helping organize and distribute direct aid to returning soldiers and their families.
She’s organized support groups for the survivors of soldiers killed in action, organized the “Hoedown for Heroes” held in Loveland in August and helped organize a project that will result in a new handicapped-accessible home for quadriplegic veteran Matt Keil and his wife, Tracy.
But the biggest project AMF has completed so far is the complete rebuild of a Castle Rock home for Army veteran Brandon Burke.
Burke, who lost a leg in combat, returned from Iraq ready to enter college. When he went to remodel the bathroom in his manufactured home to make it accessible, he found it was filled with black mold.
AMF stepped up, offering to handle the project. Former AMF boardmember Tom Tarver was so impressed by the 30-year-old that he started thinking it might be fun to surprise Burke with an extreme makeover of the house.
Hundreds of people were happy to oblige.
White Construction Group led the work to rebuild the house from the studs out. Appliances were donated. Cupboards were filled. Burritos were made. Barbecue was served. All by volunteers.
Kimberly Lord Stewart, a Longmont writer and military wife, was so moved by Quackenbush’s appeal that she volunteered to help with the rebuild of Burke’s house without ever having met the woman or the man.
“I think she’s the eternal optimist,” Stewart says. “She’s driven by passion, and nothing is impossible for her.”
It helps that Quackenbush’s arms are open to anyone who wants to support people who have sacrificed for the country.
“You don’t have to say you support the war, or support Bush or support Congress,” Stewart says. “You are saying ‘I support the men and women who serve our country.’ ”
Quackenbush left her family business, QES Contract Software, to focus on supporting returning military men and women. “It didn’t rock my world. This does,” she says. “This allows me to live the dream daily, and it’s what I’m gonna do at all costs.”
With the keys to Burke’s new house barely in his pocket, Quackenbush already had new military families in her sights.
First up: making sure that a soldier and his family seriously injured in a car accident between here and Wisconsin were looked after at hospitals in Greeley and Denver. Then came herding about 15,000 toys down to Fort Carson for the children of servicemen and -women.
“Dec. 14 was a great day for a great young man,” she says of the presentation of Burke’s home. “I’m very proud of what we did. Hopefully, we can raise some more money and help some more people.”
Dana Coffield: 303-954-1954 or dcoffield@denverpost.com
