“That was funny,” said Richard Shea, the athletic honoree at the event and CEO of Morris-Shea. “She was adjusting her dress and accidentally bid on an item. She ended up winning the Italy vacation. I paid for it since she helped so much.”
Friday’s event was the sixth time the Lettermen of the USA have hosted their gala. But the one this year was the biggest to date.
“I can’t take all the credit for it,” Shea said. “I had a lot of help from our project managers in the company. They reached out to all of our trade partners. We’ve got over 40 trade partners here. We consider those to be either clients of ours or suppliers or vendors or subcontractors … material suppliers.”
Shea had special praise for Krasniqi.
“She took the lead on it,” the former Auburn University nose guard and defensive tackle said. “We’ve got a great turnout. I think we have over 180 people here tonight that are with our group of companies that we brought to the event. I’m hoping that they’ll all continue to support the event in years to come because the turnout has been amazing. I’m very, very happy for that.”
As always, the gala was a spectacular success. There was one misstep: The caption of Shea’s picture in the program showed him as having played for Auburn’s rival, the University of Alabama.
“That didn’t offend me one bit,” Shea said. “They got it right everywhere else. Darryl (Fuhrman, founder and president of LOTUSA) was irritated about it, but I told him not to sweat it.
“The focus of the event is on the vets,” he continued. “The athletic honoree simply has the job of leading the fundraising for that year. As long as they didn’t label me as a felon, then I’m thick-skinned.”
“These guys have sacrificed and done things that are unimaginable to the rest of us,” Shea said. “Think about the guys in World War II. I met two gentlemen earlier, World War II vets, 95 and 97 years old. If not for that generation and their unselfish acts of what they did when they were my age or younger, we wouldn’t all be here today. That’s the focus of the evening.”
Among the veterans were six from Huntsville’s Honoring Veteran Legacies. Korean War Navy pilot Philip Schaffner was one of them.
“That was a joy for me,” the 90-year-old said, adding that movie depictions don’t do his experience justice. “There’s a lot of bull shooting in ‘Top Gun’ that ain’t true. I landed on five different aircraft carriers in my day, chasing Russian submarines. That was the fun.”
“My wife served alongside me for 21 years in the Navy, and we have been blessed to know many of the 400,000 veterans in the state of Alabama,” Davis said. “It is a humbling experience to greet many of the brave men and women who have served their country. I’m just so honored to stand here to represent all of them tonight.”
Fuhrman, the founder and president of Lettermen of the USA, said the organization continues to improve in its efforts to serve veterans.
“We keep being consistent with it,” he said. “We’ve impacted 1,300 lives since 2012. One day the Fisher House will be built, and it’ll impact 500,000. Then, someday, when the Heroes Village is built, it’ll be at least 120 veterans through our tiny homes, each 600 square feet, in the central Alabama area alone.”
Courtesy of Alabama News Center
