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November 19, 2009

Doss receives Hero Award for Community Service

Submitted by Tandus

Dalton-based Tandus has awarded its Hero Award for Community Service to Vernie Doss, a Tandus regional credit manager who builds wheelchair ramps at the homes of the disabled and homebound in the area.

Now in its second year, the Tandus Hero program honors employees for community service outside of work that demonstrates Tandus’ social and environmental values. Doss is the second recipient of the award.

Doss founded and runs Good Neighbors, a nonprofit that provides access ramps for people otherwise could not afford them. Doss raises the funds and with a five-man team builds each wheelchair ramp. The team also helps with widening doorframes for wheelchair access and other needs such as cleaning gutters and repairing floor joists.

“The first ramp we built was for a woman who had not left her home in three years except to crawl down the steps for doctor’s appointments,” Doss said. “She cried as she came outside and spent the entire day watching her five-year-old son play in the yard, something she had not been able to do in years.”

Doss was inspired to begin the program in 2006 after meeting Desmond Doss, a relative who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics as a medic in World War II. Upon returning from the war, the decorated veteran sold many of his rental properties and donated the proceeds to widows in need.

“Many homebound people battle depression and loneliness,” Doss said. “When they are able to leave their homes, it just changes their lives.”

Doss identifies those in need of ramps through his mother, Glenda Doss, a visiting nurse who works for Hutcheson Home Health. Doss raises money through his church, Noble Church of God, and works with the church’s pastor, Mark McGuire, to build the wheelchair ramps. He also collects donations from Tandus co-workers.

For more information on Good Neighbors, visit www.tandus.com/heroes/verniedoss or call (706) 980-8612.

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