White Pine vet needs help from community

Arthur Evangelista needs a helping hand.

A former Army military policeman struggling with making ends meet in large part

to his permanent disability status, Evangelista’s already strained life took a turn for the worse this past August.

That’s when the Jeep he had been driving for several years and hundreds of thousands of miles experienced a “blown” engine. The White Pine resident’s only means of transportation was towed to a repair shop in Thompson Falls where it was determined a new engine would be required.

The cost to replace the old engine is estimated to be more than $3,000.

Desperate to regain transportation, Evangelista turned to the Plains VFW for help.

He was put in touch with Heather Allen, the post’s quartermaster, who set a fund drive in motion.

“These are great people,” Evangelista said. “This country was founded by people who help their neighbors in need. I had nowhere else to turn.”

Evangelista joined the Army in 1973 and spent two years training and working as a military policeman. In the following years he said he worked a variety of jobs related to the MP training, including being an accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Administration and training as a paramedic.

A North Carolina native who also lived in Alabama, he suffered work-related injuries that led to his being declared 100% disabled. He bears the scars of a severe leg injury and a gunshot wound to the hand, a memento of chasing a suspect while investigating an accident.

He had been trying to supplement his veteran’s disability pension by cutting and selling small amounts of firewood, a very difficult task given his injuries.

“The doctors didn’t expect I would be able to walk again,” he said, referring to his shattered leg that required several surgeries. “I did what I could to rehabilitate myself, I won’t take drugs like oxycontin because of the dangers involved so I spent a lot of time taking natural supplements and doing what I could to heal and rehab naturally.”

Allen, an Air Force veteran, set the wheels in motion to raise the funds needed to get Evangelista’s jeep back on the road. Shortly after posting an initial statement about the fund drive on social media, Allen said donors almost immediately gave $100 to get things going.

Another local retired veteran donated a load of firewood to help heat the modest mobile home in which Evangelista resides.

She has since established an account at Rocky Mountain Bank in Plains for those wishing to help with the veteran’s needs. Those wanting to donate can also contact Allen at the VFW, 240-8444.