Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

After serving their country and their communities for many years, you would think that David Jordan and Tom Furman of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 71 in Winchester would be ready to hang up their hats and take it easy.

But the two are as busy as ever doing construction projects for veterans and their families all over Southeast Middle Tennessee.

The DAV’s “Ramp Project” began about 15 years, and while ramps are the most common project the group works on, they’ll do anything from fences to porches.

Basically, anything that’s not structural.

“A good example is we had a young Marine who had an autistic son, and we wound up about five years ago putting up a large fence around the area of his property so his son could go out and play, and we modified the porch so he could be on the porch,” recalled Furman. “There was a gate there that he could lock to keep him from going out. It basically made it safe for the young fella.”

“We do just about anything we can to help out the veterans, and there’s no cost to the veterans,” he added. “That’s the beautiful thing about it.”

Through a grant program with local Home Depot stores focused on helping veterans in need, Jordan and Furman are able to complete their construction projects at no charge.

The group went through Veterans Affairs at one time to see if they were helping the veterans through their assistance programs because they didn’t want to put in a grant for someone who is already being helped by the VA.

They also felt that the metal ramps that the VA sends out, as opposed to the wooden ones that the Ramp Project installs, were installed quicker and slightly more durable.

Furman says that they realized eventually that it was an “undue burden” on the VA.

“Well, if we know it’s a veteran and he’s not in the health system, and it takes forever for him to get in the health system, then we go ahead and say we know this guy needs it or his wife needs it or his kid needs it, and so we just go ahead and put the grant request in,” he explained. “That’s pretty much how it works.”

“This venture works because 85% of the veterans out there do not qualify for VA assistance and aren’t even in the VA system,” added Jordan. “That’s how we got to do it because these veterans are elderly now and are living on a fixed income and everything else, so we started doing it.”

While the main focus for the projects is veterans in need, it also helps the veterans’ loved ones as well.

One instance that Furman recalled was building a ramp for a veteran’s wife who had a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair for the majority of the time.

“That was the longest ramp we ever did,” he recollected. “It was 84 feet. That was a big, big ramp. It was a big job too.”

The ramp building duo originally stuck to Franklin and Moore County to avoid spreading themselves too thin but decided to do some projects in Coffee County after the local chapter called them up and asked for some help.

In addition to Furman and Jordan who have been with DAV Chapter 71 for nearly a decade, every project sees anywhere from 2 or 3 to 10 or 15 volunteers that assist in the construction, though Furman says their volunteer group has dwindled in recent years with some projects just having the two working.

“When the chapter was going strong, we had quite a few, but they’re getting older and say they can’t do anything,” he explained. “We understand that, but it’s hard to get new members. The biggest part with new members is there’s a lot of these younger folks that don’t feel that they want to belong to the older organizations like the American Legion or VFW.”

“And they’ve got kids and things like that too, so a lot of the young veterans have to take care of their families, and they have to work and everything,” added Jordan.

Though the two say that there have occasionally been recipients who didn’t have a positive response, Furman explained that most people do.

“The majority of people are very thankful to have the help, especially whenever you find a widow or something and you do that and she comes out crying to you and says thank you very much, that just warms your heart,” he explained while holding back tears. “It just makes the difference.”

Jordan says that the two occasionally get irritable because they have a lot of pain that sometimes worsen with the physical labor of the projects they take on. He also noted that people tell the two that they argue like a married couple.

“It is what it is,” interjected Furman. “At least we wind up doing something. That’s the important thing.”

One of the more common points of contention is Jordan telling recipients that they’ll be done with the project at lunch time when they can sometimes roll into the late afternoon.

Furman says that try in general not to make promises on any front.

“We explain to them that we team up with Home Depot and put the requests in, and we tell them that if it means we can’t get the grant request and you really need it, we’ll see about going out and getting the funding from somebody else,” he said. “Maybe there’s one or two people that are willing to put money toward it. It all works out.”

A lot of the projects that come to the Ramp project are from word of mouth and by advertising on signs placed in various locations by the group, including one at the Winchester federal building that also houses their post office.

Furman’s phone number, 931-308-3001, is the best way to get in touch about the project.

“Being my age and everything, I’m inundated with scam calls,” he explained. “So, if I don’t recognize the number, I won’t answer that number, but if people leave their name and number and explain that they’re interested in the Ramp Project, then I’ll be happy to call them and talk to them.”

Despite putting in enough years of work into their communities to justify slowing down, a desire to help their fellow veterans keeps them going.

“When you see a brother or a sister hurting, you want to take care of them,” Furman explained, again holding back tears. “That’s what it boils down to. I won’t lie to you, it gets to me, especially when they are really, really in need. It makes a big difference.”

“Eventually it’s going to be us,” said Jordan. “We’re going to need the help.”

“And there may not be anyone there to help us,” added Furman. “As long as we can do it, we’re going to do it.”