At his home, Frank displays a pair of glasses with splintered lenses and an ID badge, its corners crinkled and brown from flame. “I was a licensed electrician when I was only 22 years old,” Frank shares. “I had built up an electrical business that was making $2 million a year.”
In October 2007, Frank was finishing an industrial electrical project that had taken months. He was on the last day of that project, which involved rewiring transformers. “I was holding a 12,000-volt cable, it energized, and started arcing,” he said. “The transformer exploded and blew me 30 feet.” In just a second, Frank received a nearly fatal electrical shock. He survived but sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). “I couldn’t think, or even wire a single pole relay,” he shares. “It’s like I just forgot. I can’t multitask like I did. It takes someone with a TBI so much longer to complete tasks.”
Unable to work, Frank refused to sit at home. He connected with a program that empowers people who are living with disabilities. Frank joined a skills class and received extra food from the program. “The food helps supplement the food I purchase, so that way my fixed income can actually ‘fix’ me during the month,” he laughs.
Now, Frank is teaching an electrical skills class at a jail, and is excited for what’s next. “I do feel I’m not done yet. There’s supposed to be more. My life continues.”
We couldn’t provide food to neighbors like Frank without partners like you. Here’s a sampling of others who generously support our hunger-relief work:
• Blandin Foundation
• Joan M. Wismer Foundation
• Northland Foundation
• Otto Bremer Trust
• Walmart