Grilled Cheese Festival will benefit wounded veterans

Jack Thompson, 73, was watching a show on customizing cars last year and for some reason his thoughts turned to his father, who was killed in World War II.

Something about the combination of the two thoughts stirred his emotions, and an idea began to brew inside his mind that if people can customize cars, why couldn’t that same effort be put toward wheelchairs that could help veterans? Customizing wheelchairs isn’t a new thing, but it is for Thompson, who started his not-for-profit Wheels 4 Purple Hearts organization a short time later.

Wheels 4 Purple Hearts will be the beneficiary of a new festival coming to Palmetto’s Sutton Park on Saturday, Aug. 20. The Grilled Cheese Festival will feature 20 vendors serving food with an emphasis on signature grilled cheese sandwiches, which co-organizer Wally Copes said is the new trend for “foodies, who really love it.”

Thompson said his customized chairs feature LED lighting that can be seen at night, are joystick-operated and come with Corvette speakers complete with Bluetooth technology.

“Some of these guys are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan without their legs, and their first thought is, ‘I’m screwed,’” said Thompson. “I stumbled across my wheelchair that was pretty banged up. I put in two new batteries in, and the thing works. I gave it to an Iraq veteran last year at the first festival in St. Pete. He had lost both of his legs, but the whole idea is to get them back into living their lives and realize that everything is going to be OK.”

Thompson said not every veteran receives a prosthetic in a timely manner, and his goal is to have the veterans who receive his chairs, “pay it forward and hopefully when they don’t need the chair anymore, they’ll find their own fellow veterans to give the chairs to.”

The Disabled American Veterans organization in Sarasota learned what Thompson was doing and donated 20 wheelchairs to his organization, which is basically him and a couple of volunteers.

“No one draws a paycheck here,” said Thompson. “One hundred percent goes to the veterans.”

Thompson said, on average, each custom design runs about $1,150.

The Grilled Cheese Festival, “will help me out immensely,” he said. “And in turn it will help veterans no one else seems to help. I’m not associated with Wounded Warriors, where their executives are getting six-figure salaries and other organizations where 1 percent goes to veterans. I put my own money into this.”

This year’s recipient is still being sought, and organizers are hoping to find a local veteran. The requirements are they have a Purple Heart, an honorable discharge, and that the wounds requiring the individual to be in a wheelchair occurred in battle. Thompson can be reached at 941-993-3622.

Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said, “I love their mission to help wounded veterans. It’s very admirable.”

The festival will run all day from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Admission and parking are free, and live music begins at 1 p.m.

This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Grilled Cheese Festival will benefit wounded veterans."