Camp Verde-based HVAC and plumbing company Goettl’s High Desert Mechanical is donating a complete heating and air conditioning system to two veterans. Though Goettl’s developed the idea and will provide the equipment and installation, Adam Moore of Tucson-based Veterans News Network is handling the applications.
To that end, he has appointed a selection committee with the intent of choosing one veteran local to the Verde Valley and one veteran local to the Prescott quad-city area. Not including installation, the commercial equipment is valued between $10,000 and $15,000.
“This is very generous on Goettl’s part …. We’re not getting any money from this,” Moore said, adding that Goettl’s contacted Veterans News Network in order to insure impartiality in selection.
“It’s not going to be political. We’re going to try to make the best decision. “I’d like to make sure I’ve turned over every rock and every deserving veteran has a shot [and find] the most deserving person.”
According to Moore, the criteria are simple: Nominees must own their own homes or manufactured homes, and they must provide proof of honorable discharge from their branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Additional factors that may weigh in include nominees’ community-mindedness and economic need.
“The difficulty many [veterans] have acclimating back into civilian life, the lack of healthcare they receive. We know that there’s a host of them throughout the state and country,” Dane Wombacher of Goettl’s said, adding that awareness of such needs inspired Goettl’s act.
Both Moore and the folks at Goettl’s hoped to have nominations firmed up mid-November, but receiving nominations has been more challenging than expected.
“It seems like the vast majority of veterans with these needs are renting, so we’re missing that contingent,” Wombacher said, adding that another factor influencing low turnout may be an ingrained reticence among veterans to ask for help.
“It’s about others first and me last,” Wombacher said. “‘Take care of them instead of me.’” Moore, a veteran himself, agreed with this stereotype: “It’s hard to get a vet to say, ‘Help me.’ It takes someone else.”
As a result of the relatively few nominees who have stepped forward and admitted a need, the nominations will now wrap up after the first week of December.
To be considered, veterans can apply themselves or be nominated by others. To submit an application directly, call or email Moore at (520)-371-5201 ext. 162 and adam@ vnnusa.com. Include name, address, phone, email, service branch, length of service, when and where served and other relevant information related to the nominee’s service and current situation.
Wombacher encouraged as many veterans to apply as possible, noting the pending selection and adding that he hopes Goettl’s charity inspires other trades and subcontractors to “step up and offer comparable charitable donations to veterans.”
