Families Of Wounded Soldiers Get Helping Hand

When Barbara Leonardi traveled to Germany with her friend, Dr. John J. Farrell, to visit his paralyzed daughter in Landsthul Fisher House, Leonardi knew she had a mission to complete at the end of the trip.
After seeing how well Fisher House treated Farrells daughter and other members of the American military, she decided to start raising money to send to the charity when she returned home to North Shore Towers.
So on a recent Sunday, Leonardi held a fundraiser at United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point with Farrell, who is the executive director of the Queens Flag Day Committee. The event provided more than $4,000 for the non-profit organization that provides low-cost lodging for family members who wish to be close to a loved one receiving medical treatment.
"Ive had a very good response from my neighbors and friends at North Shore Towers," Leonardi said. "This is not a political issue, its a personal issue. Because even though were here, out of harms way, our hearts are with them."
Leonardi remembered her New Years visit amid battered, broken soldiers who came to Germany to mend peacefully alongside their families. Demand for the Fisher Houses services was rising because of the war in Iraq.
"We would wake up in the morning and hear the helicopters medivacking the wounded from Iraq," she said, referring to American soldiers injured in the war and beyond.
One of the wounded was Farrells daughter, Eileen Quesenberry. Farrell, of Douglaston, recounted how he learned that his 30-year-old daughter, a civilian assigned to U.S. Navy Special Operations in Sardinia, Italy, became paralyzed after metal that hit her arm shattered and became embedded in her spinal column in September 2003. Quesenberrys torso still remains in a cast. Throughout her hospitalization, husband David Quesenberry an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy has been able to be by her side at the Fisher House. In June, she came to the United States for surgery.
"The morale that theyve given to everyone is fantastic," Farrell said. "These people that are there are not paid a lot."
So after Leonardi threw a New Years party for the families at the Fisher House, she returned to Queens to raise money and do what she could. Leonardis donated shower curtains, ironing boards and hair driers already trim the facilities. After Sundays fundraising barbecue at the Marine Academy along Long Island Sound attended by 100 area residents, Leonardi sent more money.
Michael Evans of North Flushing attended Leonardis fundraiser with his friends, Cheri C. Jou of Bayside and Clem L. Summerlin of East Elmhurst. The trio, having paid a minimum of $75 each to attend, sat munching on potato salad and listening to live patriotic musical performances as gentle breezes passed the deck of the academys Yocum Sailing Center.
"In light of, obviously, recent events, I think its important for people like myself to show support and to show people who are in the military that the people they are sworn to protect are interested and do care," Evans said.
Evans heightened concern was Leonardis goal.
"What I am hoping to achieve is to raise public awareness that there are ways to support our military and their families in a time of need," Leonardi said. "And this is the way we chose to do it."
The Fisher House provides housing for family members who wish to be close to a loved one receiving medical treatment for an illness, disease or injury. The Landsthul Fisher House in Germany (the same facility that took care of Jessica Lynch) was designated as the beneficiary of the fundraiser because their resources have been stretched thin since Landsthul Regional Medical Center is caring not only for the wounded from Iraq, but also from the US European Command, US Central Command, US Special Operations Command, and 72 Embassies in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Landsthul Fisher House gives priority to the most serious cases. Others receive care on a space-available basis.