Meet my classmate and co-worker, Kevin Jarrard. While on his 2nd tour of duty, he met the young girl (Amenah Ala Thabit) you see pictured here. She needed heart surgery to save her life, and he made sure that she got it. He didn't seek help from our government or Iraq's. He wrote home to Gainesville and hit up Sunday school classes. He found surgeons and hospitals who would do the surgery for no charge at Vanderbilt.
Before he came home (literally days before) he found a young boy, Anmar Muhammad, who was also in need of life-saving surgery. With money that was left over from the little girl's fund, he flew the boy and his father to Charleston. Kevin has connections there, as an alumnus of The Citadel.
Kevin is at the beach with his own four children and his wife right now, and he will return to teaching in the fall. Sadly, if you google his name you will find his father's obituary. Tom Jarrard, a beloved and respected attorney here, died only days before Kevin left for Iraq. One of his brothers was serving in Afghanistan when their father died. (He is the youngest of four children, and both of his brothers are also in the military. One is in active duty in the army, and the other teaches at North Georgia College.)
He makes me feel honored to be an American--he is truly the best of us.
More info on him.
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