The wife of a soldier who lost both his legs in Afghanistan has expressed her thanks after three organisations joined forces to create a new driveway that allows easier access to their Hampshire home.
Leading public service provider Amey, military charity Help for Heroes and civil engineering firm Pavenet decided to work together to support Jody and Micky Yule as the former soldier was experiencing great difficulty in getting up their gravel driveway.
After Yule’s family approached Help for Heroes to see if they could help, a plan formed to make the driveway much more accessible, with the charity granting funds to pay for all materials and Amey and Pavenet offering their expertise and time for free. Following over 100 hours of labour, the gravel driveway has now been replaced with block paving, a dropped kerb has been installed and a step that led to the front door has now been levelled.
This now allows much easier access for Micky, who became a double amputee after he sustained serious injuries during a tour of Afghanistan in 2010 with The Royal Engineers.
His wife, Jody, said: “The work that Help for Heroes, Amey and Pavenet carried out at our house has been such a help. Before, it could be a struggle for Micky to even get from the car to the house, but now it’s just easy. It might be a little thing to anyone else, but for us it has just made things that bit easier. However, more than that, it's been really nice to know that people are willing to help, to offer their time to us. We are hugely grateful.”
Paul Anderson, Account Director for Amey, said: “We are always delighted to take part in projects like this, which has resulted in enormous benefit for Micky and his family. Normally, our Hampshire teams are maintaining the county’s roads but this was a great opportunity for our guys to employ those skills to make life easier for someone who has bravely served in the armed forces. We look forward to working with charities such as Help for Heroes on similar projects in the future.”
Malcolm Benham, Pavenet’s Operations Director, said: “As a relatively new and small business, which is developing with support from organisations such as Amey, it is a great honour to be part of a team that help those in need. It is great news that the joint efforts of all involved has produced something beneficial for Micky and his family. We are keen to support future projects of a similar nature and wish Micky and family all the very best.”
Linda Walton, Head of Grants from Help for Heroes said: “We are delighted to have been able to support Micky and Jody with grant funding as they continue to rebuild their lives beyond injury. Our huge thanks go to Amey and Pavenet for their support in helping with this project. By offering their time and skills they have made a significant difference to the family and are a great example of how you can ‘do your bit’ for our heroes as an organisation.”