On Saturday, August 28, 2013, five members of the Cottonwood Fire Department, Lieutenant Jeff Boyd, Engineer Jeremy Doerksen, Firefighters Kerrie Hawthorne, Joe Odell and Nick Garcia, built a wheelchair ramp for a local Korean War Veteran. These Cottonwood Fire Department personnel had responded to an emergency medical call at the veteran’s residence a few days before and had discovered that U.S Army veteran and retired law enforcement officer Wilber Quick was confined to a wheelchair but did not have a ramp to make the residence wheelchair accessible. Boyd, Doerksen, Hawthorne, Odell and Garcia decided they would like show Mr. Quick their appreciation for his years of military and law enforcement service and decided to build him a wheelchair ramp. They contacted the Cottonwood Home Depot store and explained the situation to a manager there. Home Depot agreed to donate the materials needed to construct a wheelchair ramp. Doerksen, Hawthorne and Garcia returned to Mr. Quick’s residence on a day they were off-duty and constructed the ramp.
Boyd, Doerksen, Hawthorne, Odell and Garcia’s shift supervisor, Captain Troy Hoke stated “this action displays a caring heart for the community and represents what paying it forward is truly about.”

Fire Chief Mike Kuykendall added “I am proud that our personnel had the initiative and compassion to take on this project and to represent the Cottonwood Fire Department in such a positive way.”