By Jennifer Christos
jchristos@journalandcourier.com

NEWTOWN -- Chris Harmon courageously faces the future with the help of family, friends, the community and, now, Home Depot.

Just two years ago the 21-year-old was rappelling from helicopters with the Army's prestigious 101st Airborne "Rakkasan" unit and looking forward to his upcoming deployment to Iraq.

But Harmon would never see any military combat. While on leave visiting friends in Lafayette in September 2004, he was forced into a ditch by a drunken driver while riding his motorcycle on County Road 350 South. The crash caused traumatic brain injury.

"His condition was grave," said Harmon's mother, Cynde, "Every bone in his face was broken, and they didn't expect him to live."

Still unable to move his body and only able to communicate by blinking his eyes, Harmon faces years of extensive and painful physical rehabilitation. His parents needed space for his specialized rehab equipment, so two months ago they contacted local businesses and organizations for assistance converting their attached garage into an exercise room for their son.

Together, Home Depot and VFW Post 1154 of Lafayette secured $3,000 in building supplies through a Home Depot community impact grant. Jim Seffrin, human resources manager at the Home Depot store in Lafayette, recruited the labor by posting a sign in the employee break room.

"Our Team Depot service program is made up of employee volunteers who do community projects on their days off," Seffrin said.

Team Depot associates Paul Hebert, Clint Brandt, Ricardo Campos, T.J. Linback, Carl Veld and Derrick Sines said they gladly signed up to help Harmon.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, they put a new pitch on the leaking garage roof and reshingled it. Next week they will work on interior improvements, such as painting and installing a ceiling fan.

"When we heard his story, we were touched and wanted to help out," Hebert said.

"I didn't have the day off when they were going to do the work," said Sines, who was disappointed when he learned he may not get to work on the project. "But they let me clock out and come down here anyway."

Harmon's parents, Chuck and Cynde, moved to the area from Massachusetts after their son was injured.

"We quit our jobs and stayed with him at St. Elizabeth Hospital. We literally lived in the hospital for the first 46 days," Harmon's mother said.

The family now has to live on one income and the specialized services needed to bring their son home have been expensive. A year ago, they found a home in Newtown, a small, Fountain County community 25 miles south of Lafayette.

"It's a quiet and friendly town," said Harmon's mother. "Before the local church installed a mechanical lift, congregation members came out to lift the wheelchair into the church."

The Home Depot project has been just one of many acts of service and kindness the Harmons have received on behalf of their son.