Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Tawny Kruse | Sgt. 1st Class Michael Sullivan, assistant operations noncommissioned officer with the...... read more read more
JOHNSTON, Iowa – Shortly after Johnston, Iowa, saw its first snow in November 2022, Iowa National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Michael Sullivan pulled out his “Lil Red Wagon” for the third year in a row to start collecting donations for the Des Moines area homeless population.
As Sullivan carefully carried the wagon outside for a quick photoshoot, he thought out loud:
“You feel how cold it is right now, even just being out here for a short time?” he said. “Now imagine having to stay outside in this all day, all night. That’s the reality for a lot of people. That’s why I do what I do.”
Sullivan is the assistant operations noncommissioned officer at the 734th Regional Support Group based at Camp Dodge. When Iowa joined the entire country in a lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sullivan noticed a change in his neighborhood. He passed the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers during his drive to work each day, and more and more tents began popping up along the banks.
“As people were being evicted or whatever circumstance happened to them, the number of tents alongside the river and park area tripled,” Sullivan said. “When Christmas season rolled around and the leaves started falling off the trees again, there was still that same amount. That told me these folks have been homeless anywhere from six to eight months or more.”
According to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report, Iowa was among four states that experienced the largest increase in homelessness between 2019 and 2020.
He decided he wanted to do something to help, and the idea for “Sully’s Lil Red Wagon” was born. Sullivan and his wife got in touch with a local charity program they had worked with before and pulled a list of donatable items.
That first year – Christmas 2020 – he set his wagon next to the big Christmas tree at Iowa’s Joint Force Headquarters as a marker for people to drop off donations. Sullivan was pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming support from his fellow Soldiers, and not just at Camp Dodge. Iowa Guard Soldiers traveled from Boone and even Perry to donate.
He was delivering a truckload of items every two weeks, and by the end of the drive, they raised $400 in cash donations and $2,000 in purchased donations.
“Peanut butter, clothes, toothbrushes, hygiene items, everything that was on the list plus more,” Sullivan said.
In 2021, he raised $1,400 worth in cash and items and started donating to other Des Moines area charities that give the items directly to those in need. Sullivan said most of the time, the goods were being handed out to people as soon as they were unloaded from the truck.
Sgt. 1st Class Alyssa Blazicek helped Sullivan set up and get the word out that first year.
“This is just a very small symbol of what Sullivan is, which is a giver,” said Blazicek. “Even though winter is when the homeless are sometimes more seen, he thinks about them year-round.”
Sullivan credits his upbringing for teaching him to put others before himself. His parents always preached that you are “blessed more than you realize.” He described a period of his life when things were tough, and once went four days without food.
The harsh reality of food insecurity and homelessness in Iowa motivated him to put things in perspective and do what he could to help.
“You can see it when you pull up at a stoplight and there’s someone standing there with a sign,” Sullivan said. “You don’t know the circumstances that led to this person asking for money to survive. Some stories are true and some are not so true. But that’s their story, and I have no right to judge. They’re our fellow humans and I just want to do what I can.”
| Date Taken: | 11.29.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 11.29.2022 11:03 |
| Story ID: | 434116 |
| Location: | JOHNSTON, IOWA, US |
| Hometown: | DES MOINES, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, “Sully’s Lil Red Wagon:” Iowa Soldier gives back to community, by SFC Tawny Kruse, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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