Motivated by strength

Snellville, Ga. – What started out as a 24-year-old from Georgia having fun, turned into a life threatening experience and loads of charitable acts from people across the state, including a landscape contractor.

Aimee Copeland nearly died when she contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection, after a fall from a zipline in May of this year. Though the infection didn’t kill her, doctors amputated her leg, foot and both hands. Thus, she needed special living accommodations, which lead Pulte Homes to build an addition to her family’s house. That’s when the Phoenix Landscape Group’s Tim Mooney was asked to participate and install the landscape.

“It was a chance to help Pulte do what they wanted to do, but it was a chance to help Aimee,” Mooney says. “It was all over the news every day, so you knew a lot about the situation but you didn’t know anyone personally. You just knew it was out there and this girl had a struggle ahead of her and that anything you could do to help you’d certainly want to pitch in and do your share.”

The company did a complete renovation of the landscape with irrigation material from Hunter Industries, shrubs from John Deere Landscapes and a fireplace and planters from Belgard. All the materials were donated.

“We had a lot of help on this project obviously.”

Copeland gave input on the design plans, so she would be able to transfer herself from her wheelchair to sit on the wall and work in the garden. Mooney said the whole project was on the fast track and he finished his part in a week, when it would have taken two to three weeks.

“We all wish her the best. I have not met her, but just from what we’ve heard she inspires a lot of people. She is not a quitter. That is one thing I knew about her just from the TV and radio that this is a different person. Just because she’s been faced with a life changing experience, she’s not going to let it get her down.”

Good Works is an occasional feature that highlights charitable projects our readers are working on. If you’d like to see your company’s recent good work profiled, send an email to Associate Editor Brian Horn at bhorn@gie.net.