A chance encounter purchasing a ring light has led to the beginning of a monthly community-driven project for a Vernon business.
Todd Embley, who co-owns KT Fairglass, which specializes in window and door installation, went to purchase the ring light from a Facebook ad that a local family posted in late 2023.
“What I came to understand was that they (the family) have a son that they were taking care of full time,” Embley told The Morning Star. “The reason they were selling these lights was to help get more care for the son.”
The son is Declan Arthur, who, in 2021, was involved in an accident with an ATV that left him with brain damage, loss of motor function and a reliance on a feeding tube.
Arthur was in a coma for nearly nine months and has since been at his parents home, being taken care of by father Gord and mom Angie.
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“As I am walking away, I noticed that they have a window that has a lot of condensation and is really old and clearly failed,” said Embley. “I drove away and I was thinking ‘I’m in the window business, they are a family in need, and they’ve got this one big window that is probably the most important one in their home that needs to be replaced. I could really do something about this.”
Gord and Angie were looking to replace the window right when they bought the house.
“The problem was that I would have had help with Declan to install a window, but after the accident I got no help no more so I couldn’t replace it by myself,” Gord said.
Costs to renovate their home to make it accessible for Declan also contributed, as their whole flooring, from carpet, had to be replaced to hardwood.
Embley then got in touch with Milgard, which is a window manufacturing company.
“It was a great idea, and we were happy to help with providing the windows,” said Craig Rasmussen, an outside sales representative from Milgard. “To have one of our dealers (KT Fairglass) say that they will do the install for free, if we could contribute a window, then it was an obvious decision.”
Rasmussen added that his company “gets a lot from the community, but if we can do some small things to help out, it feels great.”
The new window will do more than just improve the Arthur’s quality of life.
“It increases security because it locks better, it increases quality of life, it makes heating more efficient,” Rasmussen explained. “There’s multiple aspects that makes a new window better, and that will represent a much warmer area.”
After the installation of the Arthur’s window, Embley’s goal is to do one window installations every month, free of charge for a family in the community.
“This is the very first one and I want to do it monthly,” Embley said. “I want the community to nominate more families who are in need.”
If you or someone you know is in need of a new window, email info@ktfairglass.com.
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