DALTON, Ga. — Bradley Ramirez gathered his three children around him Tuesday night and broke the news less than a week before Christmas that their home had been destroyed.

They started jumping up and down in excitement.

Ramirez, an honorably-discharged U.S. Marine who did two tours of duty in Afghanistan, returned home to Dalton in November of 2015 and found his home on Avenue C vandalized and battered, and it was sinking. The flooring had been ripped out, and as much as Ramirez was willing to do, the home couldn’t be saved. 

When he was to leave the military, the plan had been for him and his wife Regalia and his three children — Bradley, 12, Callie, 10, and Gracie, 7 — to return to Dalton and make a new life for themselves in the home.  

When that wasn’t possible, others in the community stepped in to help a man who had served his country. The symbol of that new life now became finally tearing down the old house on the way to a new home. So when Ramirez told his children their old home had been torn down, it was a time for celebration.

“It has been a long time and feels like a million pounds off of our backs,” Ramirez said. “It finally feels fresh. When they started jumping up and down, that makes it worth it. We will finally be happy, and we will have an actual home. We have been back in the area for more than a year, and we just haven’t felt at home. The last time we felt at home was two years ago.”

For more than a year, the family has been living in an apartment in Chatsworth. Earlier this year, readers of this newspaper were introduced to Ramirez and his family through the efforts of Nancy Green, a mortgage specialist with Wells Fargo who took up Ramirez’s cause after traditional ways of raising money for a new home while trying to get out from under the mortgage he was already carrying couldn’t be worked out. 

Green and members of the local American Legion post were working with the city and through individual contributions to help with a new home for the property. When the story was published in July, another person stepped in to help take up the cause. 

Like Ramirez, April Bennett is a student in the business program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. When she read Ramirez’s story and realized the guy she had seen in classes but had never really gotten to know was the same person, she wanted to help as well. 

“I had seen him face-to-face two or three times a week, and even though I knew his face, I didn’t know his story and never would have suspected it,” Bennett said. “I had several classes with him at that point and never knew what he was going through. He never spoke of it and he has been humble and never felt sorry for himself, and has still been working hard and honorable in himself.”

One of Bennett’s classes this past semester was a team project where students work for a common goal. Bennett introduced her idea to her team and Project Ramirez was born, with Bennett and fellow students Chad Donaldson, Hollie Evans, Sandra Gonzalez and Steven Yang.

They began fundraising efforts — booths at fairs, charitable gift cards, raffles, etc. But then, through a work connection with one of the team leaders, Project Ramirez got a serious boost. General Electric pledged $8,000 in appliances to the new house, and then through the company’s veterans program, a donation of $10,000 was secured. All told, the project raised more than $21,000.

“It was basically that feeling of giving to someone else and not just for yourself,” Bennett said of her work on the project. “A lot of times we can go through life and be selfish, but when you do something for someone else, it is a warmth that comes over you. I have two daughters myself and can’t imagine having to go through what Bradley and his family has faced.”

Bennett and her classmates earned their A.

“I have talked to my mom and she tells me all the time that April and Nancy are my angels,” Ramirez said. “April and Nancy are so much alike. They are always so busy and for them to take on a project like this, it is mind-blowing. April was working seven days a week. These people are amazing, and I look up to them and strive to be more like them. They are angels. Not just anyone would do this. It is just mind-blowing.”

“It has been stressful and uplifting,” he said. “I don’t do too well with being out in the public and asking for help. That just isn’t me. To see all of these people to come together and help out, it has been very uplifting. i could have never imagined having a gift like this.”

Construction on the new home is expected to begin in the next two months.  

“There are a lot of veterans out there. They are out there right now that need a lot of assistance,” Bennett said. “Not just Bradley’s situation but there is a need for that support. I never had a clue. He has become one of my best friends.”

Donations to help can be mailed to American Legion Post 112, P.O. Box 932, Dalton, GA 30722. All checks should include Project Avenue C in the memo line.

For more information, call Green at (256) 990-2448 or the American Legion at (706) 226-5120.