Laborers volunteer time, expertise to help injured military veteran

Call it "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," Green Bay-style.

 Hundreds of area builders, plumbers, electricians and other laborers are rallying to the aid of Sgt. Mark Meunier, an ex-Marine and newly retired National Guardsman from Green Bay who is disabled after being shot three times and surviving a double explosion while serving his country.

The workers are rehabilitating Meunier's west-side home because he's too injured to get around in it and it needs repairs. Dozens of area companies are donating supplies, labor and expertise, and dozens of residents are donating labor and cash. A local hotel is putting up Meunier and his wife for a week while most of the work is being done.

"It's amazing," said Meunier, 36. "I don't even know what to say."

Meunier first told his story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette last fall.

He described being shot in the thigh in 1991 after being involved in the Persian Gulf War for just three days. He talked about how he took a shotgun blast to his right knee while doing house-by-house sweeps during the U.S. peacekeeping operation in Somalia in 1992, and how his fellow soldiers dug shotgun pellets out of him in the back of a Humvee so he could keep fighting.

He talked about how he was shot again, this time in the ankle, just three days later. Each time, he rallied and kept on soldiering.

But that came to an end in 2005, when he was out of the Marine Corps and in the Army National Guard. While working to protect supply caravans in Iraq, Meunier was injured by two nearly simultaneous explosions of roadside bombs.

He and his three crew members managed to escape — Meunier recently received an Army commendation for keeping his wits and courage about him and getting his men to safety.

The explosions left him with numerous fractures, traumatic brain injury and severe rheumatoid arthritis. He's had several knee surgeries but is too young to get a replacement. The heel of one foot has been removed and reattached with screws and he has six feet of cadaver tendons in his leg and right shoulder.

He gets up to 30 daily cluster headaches, some of which are so painful they leave him retching and helpless. Monthly collagen shots to his head can reduce those headaches to about three a day, but they involve a two-minute procedure with a six-inch needle that Meunier says is more painful than the headaches.

Meunier and his wife, Dawn, bought an old house on North Ashland Avenue with the intention of rehabbing it, selling it and then moving into a place more suitable for raising a family.

Now, with his injuries, Meunier no longer can work on the place, nor can he get around in it. He falls down the stairs at least once a week while trying to get to or from the upstairs bathroom and bedroom. And with the poor condition of the house, coupled with the economic downturn in the housing market, the Meuniers can't sell the place and relocate.

When Meunier's story first ran in the Press-Gazette, calls and e-mails started pouring in from people who wanted to help. At first it was Ron Umentum of the Bellevue Lions Club and Dave Behrend of the VFW, who began accepting and coordinating contacts.

Local radio personality John Maino, a friend of Meunier's, took up the story, and the list of volunteers grew.

Rebuilding Together of Greater Green Bay, which helps the handicapped, low-income and elderly, joined the effort, and the group's national affiliation in Washington, D.C., has selected it as its veterans housing initiative project of the year.

Local companies are donating new toilets, sinks, showers, lights, a furnace, a water heater and other fixtures, said Mark Bonovetz, president of the local Rebuilding Together and compliance officer for Howard Immel Construction.

Plans are to build a bathroom and laundry room on the first floor to accommodate Meunier's disabilities, Bonovetz said. But it won't stop there. Reroofing, new windows and a host of other improvements are in the plans.

Most of the work will be done on April 3-5, with April 4 reserved as a sort of special, ceremonial day to include visits by local and state elected officials, military brass and top officials from the national Rebuilding Together office.

A group of college students from Michigan's Upper Peninsula are coming to do some of the work, members of various unions are providing labor and expertise, and even unskilled workers are stepping up to help with such things as cleaning up construction debris, Bonovetz said.

The Green Bay Packers have offered to install a ramp so Meunier can get in and out of his front door.

Some work already has started. Last week, Shawn Wagner Construction of Lena, Cramer Construction of Suring and Neumann Siding of Krakow all converged on Meunier's house. Within two days, the house had a new roof and new flashing, and Meunier had some new friends.

"He's going to take us out fishing," said Pete Cramer of Cramer Construction.

Meunier still owns a fishing boat and has plenty of savvy on ways to catch salmon but lacks the physical ability to do it on his own, Meunier said.

And Jim Siegel, one of the roofing laborers, wants to take Meunier bear hunting.

"It's overwhelming, unbelievable," Dawn Meunier said. "It's all way more than we could ever have hoped for."

Meunier said he met with most of the organizers last week for a sort of formal thank-you session, but "what do you say? I have no idea. Thank you."

Meunier cooked brats and hot dogs for the roofers last week and plans to do a fish fry for all workers on April 4.

"I don't know what else I can do to make up for all this," he said.

When it was suggested that Meunier had already made it all up and then some, he blushed and said, "Yes, that's what they're all saying."

Click here for the original story found in the Press Gazette.