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Local organizations come together to help a Tethered Hero
wheelchair lift donation
John Megel Chevrolet donated a wheelchair lift to BRAVE Beyond the Call, a Dawson County nonprofit that helps local veterans, on Nov. 22. The wheelchair lift is being gifted to one of the nonprofit’s Tethered Heroes. Pictured from left are: Dawson County District 2 Commissioner Chris Gaines, BRAVE Beyond the Call President Kimberly Maloney, BRAVE Beyond the Call board members Jennifer Tippins and Ken Goines and John Megel Chevrolet Service Manager Dustin Seay. - photo by Jessica Taylor

When it comes to veterans, BRAVE Beyond the Call is ready to answer the call to help.

On Friday morning, BRAVE Beyond the Call President Kimberly Maloney along with several of her board members stopped by John Megel Chevrolet to pick up a special donation for a wounded warrior.

Dustin Seay, Service Manager at the dealership, had recently removed a wheelchair lift from a pickup truck that was traded in. He didn’t want the lift to go to waste, so he reached out to the community to find out if anyone could use the equipment.

Dawson County District 2 Commissioner Chris Gaines got in touch with Seay and recommended contacting BRAVE Beyond the Call as he had a feeling the organization would be able to find someone in search of a lift.

“(The wheelchair lift) is actually going to be installed in the back of a truck for a veteran that actually lives down in Warner Robins, but he is one of our Tethered Heroes with BRAVE Beyond the Call,” Maloney said.

“I was just honored and happy to be part of the process and help facilitate getting this important piece of equipment to a wounded warrior that desperately needed it,” Gaines said.

When she got a message from Gaines earlier this week, she reached out to her network of veterans and received a response from Danny Dickey who told her that he could use the lift.

Dickey, a retired Master Sergeant in the United States Army, served 22 years active duty and four years in the reserves. He is a decorated Airborne Ranger who did 11 combat deployments.

“I’m really, really excited,” Maloney said of the donation. “He’ll be super, super excited to get it.”

“We’re glad that it’s going to somebody that can use it,” Seay said.

BRAVE Beyond the Call is a nonprofit organization based in Dawson County that was established earlier this year by Maloney, a local mom with a passion for helping veterans. It hosts public events that bring veterans and the community together, as well as runs the Tethered Heroes program that pairs a veteran and a child in a safe environment so that each have a hero they can depend on.

For more information about BRAVE Beyond the Call or to get involved, visit www.bravebeyondthecall.org.