Photo © Ben Lonergan – USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Back in 2020, the Holiday Farm Fire caused widespread devastation and loss in and around Springfield, OR. When presented with the opportunity to apply for a $7,500 community-impact grant from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, teacher Mark Simmons and students in his automotive class brainstormed ideas about who needed support in Springfield. They decided to fix up a car and give it to a local veteran who had lost their home and car in the fire. They named the project “Operation Rolling Thunder: Students Supporting Veterans.”
As a U.S. Air Force veteran himself, this cause is close to Simmons’ heart.
“I had heard that there were quite a few military people in the fires and that they were finding it really, really hard to rebuild and then that’s when I was referred to McKenzie (Valley) Long Term Recovery Group,” Simmons told the Register Guard. “That’s kind of how it all started.”
After being referred to the McKenzie Valley Long Term Recovery Group, Simmons connected with local veteran Loran Taylor, who lost his home and car in the fire. To help Taylor regain daily autonomy and mobility in the area, Simmons and his students put their grant funds towards repairing and gifting him a new set of wheels. Simmons is a 2022 winner of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.
These efforts were recently noted in an article by The Register Guard.
