Story originally shared by Kopplin, Kuebler & Wallace (KK&W)
A Generous Donation to Tee It Up for the Troops, a military charity organization.
As our world struggles to recover from the devastation inflicted by COVID-19, we at KK&W wanted to share some happy news of generosity and true selflessness with our friends and colleagues.
Recently, The Amelia Island Club (AIC) in Amelia Island, Florida retained our firm to conduct a search. Circumstances changed in the very beginning and the search was cancelled.
KK&W returned the deposit and AIC made a generous donation to Tee It Up For The Troops [a military charity organization] for our gesture. Since 2005, we have been a proud corporate sponsor of TIUFTT which has donated over $11,000,000 for the families of our veterans. This generous donation was made in “Memory Of” a fallen soldier Kelly Mixon.
David Shepler, GM/COO of AIC sent the partners an email to let them know the donation to the recommended military charity organization had been made in their honor and in memory of Kelly Mixon. Along with his note, he shared the story of Specialist Kelly Mixon who would have turned 24 two weeks after his death.
The rest of the story
“When arriving at any new job there are those staff members who really stand out and at AIC, one of those was a young Sous Chef, Amy Mixon. Amy really helped me through a difficult first 6 months when both the Executive Chef and Executive Sous Chef left shortly after my arrival. Over time I got to know Amy better and while she is a private person, through others I learned Amy’s husband, Kelly Mixon was killed in action in Afghanistan December 8, 2010.”
Dave’s son, Drew, an Army soldier, who served two tours in Afghanistan and was stationed in an adjoining province of Afghanistan. Drew recounted, with his father, hearing about Kelly and another soldier who were killed by a suicide bomber while on patrol. This was the first time, Dave ever put a personal face to the ultimate sacrifice many have given, with the realization that could have been his son and it hit home!
Kelly was a graduate of Fernandina Beach High School on Amelia Island, where he was an accomplished drummer and had played briefly for the Jacksonville Jaguars drum line from 2005-2006. Prior to enlisting, Kelly had worked his way up to sous chef with plans to use the G.I. Bill to attend a 4-year culinary institute and fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an executive chef.
Prior to his death, Kelly was able to spend Thanksgiving at home with his friends and family doing his two favorite things, cooking and playing drums. He even stopped by and practiced with the current band members at his old high school, during this trip.
Even though Amy no longer works at AIC, she and Dave have remained very close, sharing a very special bond and this is why The Amelia Island Club donated to Tee It Up For The Troops in “Memory of Kelly Mixon.”
Thank you David Shepler, CCM, CCE, General Manager/COO and The Amelia Island Club -you are the best!
