The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

Business

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
January 13, 2012

Werner Braun: Proud to be a Daltonian

Dalton Daily Citizen

There’s so much on television today that sometimes I don’t know what to choose.

But this year I happened to land on a show that I’d never watched though have heard of: “Dancing With the Stars.” I’m not a huge reality television fan and dancing isn’t my forte, but this season was different. There was a man competing that I had heard of long before his appearance on “Dancing With the Stars” and that’s J.R. Martinez.

Seeing Martinez on the television made me think of something else beside the samba, the Army or his football career at Dalton High School; it made me think about carpet.

I know most of you aren’t surprised to hear that I think about carpet, but Martinez’s inspiring story of overcoming extreme adversity has come full circle back to the city of Dalton, with Mohawk Industries and carpet paving the way.

Originally from Shreveport, La., Martinez moved to Dalton for his senior year of high school and played strong safety with the Dalton High School Catamounts football team. When his dreams of playing professional football were disrupted by a career-ending injury, Martinez enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 2002 where he became an Infantryman with the Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.

In February 2003, he was deployed to the Middle East. Two months later, Martinez was serving as a driver of a Humvee when the driver’s side-front tire hit an IED; he suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns to more than 40 percent of his body. Over the course of 34 months he underwent 33 cosmetic and skin-graft surgeries.

And when he signed up for the latest season of “Dancing With the Stars,” his story and suave moves inspired a country to believe in him — to believe in miracles. As Martinez was crowned the winner of season 13, he continued to surprise when he made an appearance at Mohawk’s Solutions 2012 gala in Nashville.

At the gala, Martinez unveiled an exclusive partnership between Mohawk and Operation Finally Home, a nonprofit organization that provides custom-made, mortgage-free homes for America’s war-wounded. Through this partnership, Mohawk will donate flooring for all 16 of the houses Operation Finally Home plans to build in 2012.

According to its website, Operation Finally Home is an award-winning program created by Bay Area Builders Association Support Our Troops. Bay Area Builders Association Support Our Troops was established in 2005, and their “mission is to provide custom made mortgage free homes to wounded and disabled veterans and the widows of the fallen in an effort to get their lives back on track and become productive members of their communities.”

Operation Finally Home also partners with corporate sponsors, builder associations, builders, developers, individual contributors and volunteers to help severely wounded war heroes and their families succeed in a challenging new world. All homes built by Operation Finally Home are custom-designed to accommodate the special needs and disabilities of the soldier recipients.

The work of J.R. Martinez, Operation Finally Home and Mohawk makes me proud to be a Daltonian. Although I can’t do the cha-cha-cha like Martinez, it’s amazing how people, companies and ideas come full circle and how the carpet community is a big family, and committed to serving those who have so willingly served us.

And I think that Daniel Vargas, executive director of Operation Finally Home, says it best; “Our nation’s service members make tremendous sacrifices every day to ensure our safety and freedoms. In return these brave men and women and their families deserve the best care and support we have to offer.”



Werner Braun is president of the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute.

Text Only
Business