GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On the hottest week of the year so far, crews from Michigan Screen & Window Repair were hard at work on the southeast side of Grand Rapids.
Aside from the grueling heat, the task at hand was a tall one. Crews were busy replacing all the windows, many of them original, in a home built in 1923.
"It's scorching hot today, so that's been extremely fun, and we've got the whole team out here," said co-owner Ryan Dalley. "We've got sales guys, we've got installers, we've got office staff out here and we just wanted to make it a full team effort. And we've been sweating, but it's totally worth it."
"This is our Windows For Widows campaign that we're super excited about. Basically we just want to give back to someone in the community that's a military veteran widow. Who could be more deserving than a military veteran widow? And we wanted to find someone in the community who was in need of windows and that it would really bless their family."
13 ON YOUR SIDE first told you back in April about the campaign. It was a partnership between the Wyoming-based business and the nonprofit, Hero's Corner. Staff members tell us after the story ran, they were flooded with nominees.
"We're thankful for all those. It was super difficult reading reading through all the stories, and our hearts go out to so many people in the community. We can't bless everyone, but we can bless someone, and that's a huge part of this. This year, it starts with one house, and hopefully in the years to come, it's many more," Dalley said.
The inaugural recipient was Emalyn Twist, a mother of three, whose husband James passed away unexpectedly in 2019.
"James was in the military for almost 10 years between his time in active duty and the reserves. I think he felt that it was his life's purpose, and that was his passion for sure," she said.
"He loved the military. He also loved CrossFit and he loved wrestling. He was on the wrestling team in high school and that was always like a big deal for him. He still loved it."
James, a Forest Hills Central High School graduate, helped save the life of a fellow soldier who had stepped on an IED during a deployment to Afghanistan.
"That's a story that I've talked to my kids about a lot, you know, without all the details that they don't need to hear. But Dad was so brave when he did that, because he cared about his friend and he was willing to risk that to go save his friend. We talk about how brave he was and how much he loved them," Emalyn said.
After his military service ended, James worked at Costco and then for the Michigan State Police. Emalyn said he was very proud to be a state trooper. His children were ages 4, 3 and 1 when he passed away.
"My job, I feel like, most of the time, since they were so little when he died, is to keep [his memory] alive and to kind of tell them about things that they're not going to remember because they were too little and show them pictures," Emalyn said.
Sunday is International Widows Day and Emalyn is encouraging everyone to reach out and support the people in their lives who are on some sort of grief journey.
"I think a lot of people want to help, and they will see our story on the news, and think 'Oh my gosh, I feel for them. I want to do something.' But people don't know what to do. I don't want to speak for everybody, but I think doing something is better than doing nothing," said Emalyn, who noted that support for grieving families tends to wane as time goes on.
"To have him gone still affects us every single day. And people move on, because when it's not a part of your life every single day, you just maybe don't think about it as much."
She said James would have been happy to hear about the window donation.
"I think he would be very grateful to know that people are taking care of us and to know that there's people rallying around us who care and that we haven't been forgotten," she said.
Michigan Screen & Window Repair is already planning to do the Windows For Widows campaign around this same time next year. The nomination page is still active on their website and they welcome new nominations for next year.
"Hopefully we can do more than one house. We can bless a bunch of people with a bunch of new windows. It's a skill that we know, so why not bless people with it?" Dalley said.
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