Vets donate air conditioning to Rehoboth VFW

When the Rehoboth Beach VFW Post 7447 recently lost its old air conditioning system, two vets decided to lend a hand.

The unit had been in place since 1993 and it broke down during the hot days of summer. Veterans Jeff Gross and Kevin Perry have their own air conditioning business, SABRS Home Comfort, and by chance, they talked with Rehoboth VFW member Bob McGinnis.

“I said, ‘Hey, if you guys ever need anything, we’d be happy to lend our services,’” Gross said. “We were thinking, ‘If something breaks, we’ll come back and fix it.’” But a few weeks later, McGinnis called back to say, “Now that you mention it, we had a system go down.”

The VFW was planning to purchase the new system, but Gross knew the post didn’t need another big expense. He and Perry decided to donate the new system for free. Typically, he said, this kind of unit would be $7,000 to $8,000.

Gross served in the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, and later went back to Afghanistan as a contractor. Perry was in the Air Force and did a six-month deployment in Iraq. The two have engineering backgrounds with experience in HVAC systems.

“We just thought the VFW - it would be a good opportunity to help them out and help our community out. And giving back to the veterans was a good idea,” Perry said.

Both Gross and Perry are members of the VFW; Gross said the VFW helped him with the Veterans Administration to get treatment for injuries sustained in the service, including a torn pectoral and spine/nerve damage.

Post 7447 Commander Dawn Drzewicki said, “For one, it’s a great honor to have vets give back to fellow vets. They brought us through the summer. These guys made it so that all our guests are comfortable. We’re extremely grateful for them to come back and give this.”