Merchant raises funds for lathe for disabled veteran
Jan Marie’s Upscale Flea Market owner Janet Breakfield wanted to do something different for Independence Day.
Breakfield has been selling woodwork in her store by Army veteran and double amputee Paul Paradeles and developed a friendship with him. On Wednesday she hosted a celebration in his honor and presented him with a Jet mini lathe, a high-end woodturning machine.
Jan Marie’s raised half the funds with a GoFundMe page, and Breakfield matched the other half on her own to purchase the lathe.
“My way of celebrating the Fourth was giving back to a guy who gave it all for us,” Breakfield said. “This is how I wanted to celebrate.”
Paradeles said words can’t explain what the gesture made him feel. “I’ve never felt this before. I’ve never felt this level of gratitude toward anybody, other than my parents of course. When she told me about the idea, I cried right here,” he said in Jan Marie’s Wednesday afternoon. “No lie, I broke down like a little child. It’s hard to convey into words. It means the world.”
Paradeles said he’s been studying woodturning for four years through reading books and watching videos and was into woodworking in high school. He never got the chance to work with a lathe, but he said he believes he will pick it up soon enough. “I’m excited to see how good I can get,” he said.
Paradeles served for two years, spending one in training and one in combat in Iraq. He first put boots on the ground July 4, 2010, and said Breakfield giving him the gift for the national holiday brings everything full circle.
Pictured Above: Janet Breakfield poses with Paul Paradeles Wednesday at Jan Marie’s Upscale Flea Market during a celebration in his honor. Breakfield presented a lathe that she raised funds to buy for the woodworker and Iraq veteran. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
