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Vets Answer The Call

Tampa Tribune Photo by JULIE BUSCH

VFW Post 10140 members Bruce Richards, left, and Clay Vetzel check out a leak under Katie Block’s kitchen sink recently.

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 14, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE - Members of North Tampa's only VFW post never met Vietnam War veteran James Block, but when his widow needed help, they answered the call.

Katie Block considers the members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10140 more than military heroes. Based on what they have done for her, she believes they are deserving of a higher calling.

"They are like angels," she said.

Post quartermaster Bruce Richards and other volunteers from the 230-member chapter on 40th Street in Temple Crest have logged 110 hours of home repairs at Katie Block's cozy, three-bedroom town house in the Meadowood community off Temple Terrace Highway.

They have hung doors and curtain rods, repaired the air-conditioning unit, installed new kitchen lights, added baseboards in the bedrooms, replaced two ceiling fans, screened the patio and fixed a broken toilet. They cleaned out a rental storage unit packed with her husband's belongings. They plan to sell the items at a yard sale and give her the profits.

Why has the post invested such time, energy and manpower to help Katie Block?

Richards, an Army veteran who served 13 months in Vietnam, considers it a call to duty to serve the community.

"He was a comrade," Richards said of James Block.

Richards said Post 10140 will always be there for brothers-in-arms and their loved ones.

The VFW on 40th Street has been a community institution for 34 years, spending all that time, with the exception of the past six months, at 40th Street and River Hills Drive. Post members traditionally perform military funerals and donate American flags to schools and plant them at military cemeteries. Its members are required to have served at least 90 days in a combat zone.

James Block's 22-year career in the Army included two tours in Vietnam, his wife said. He had no affiliation with the VFW post on 40th Street.

The relationship between Katie Block and members of Post 10140 began in March, five months after James Block died of a heart attack at age 69.

"After my husband died, I was depressed," she said. "Then my mother passed away shortly after that. I was sitting here by myself. I felt abandoned by my friends and family."

Health problems compounded the problem. Block, who uses a cane to walk, has diabetes and suffers from the chronic pain disorders fibromyalgia and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The searing pain she experiences makes it difficult at times to move her limbs.

The town house was in desperate need of repair, but Block couldn't afford to pay for the work. The lion's share of her $1,300 monthly government check - $1,100 - covers the mortgage and maintenance fees, she said. That leaves her $200 a month to buy food and pay other bills.

Her caseworker at MacDill Air Force Base urged Block to contact Richards at Post 10140, in a former plumbing business at 8414 N. 40th St.

"The moment I got him on the phone, he came right away," Block said.

Although she lives only four miles from the post, Block was unaware it existed.

"She didn't know which way to turn," Richards said. "We knew there was a great need here."

The VFW chapter has adopted Block. At least once a week, someone from the post stops by to do repairs.

Sitting at her cluttered dinner table last week, Block watched as Richards and post auxiliary member Clay Vetzel made final repairs on her kitchen sink.

She said she will never forget the kindness and generosity the post members have shown her and the friendships she has established.

Vetzel said he lives by a motto he learned as a child.

"A friend in need is a friend indeed," he said. "That's always been my philosophy."

Richards said the post has always strived to be a good neighbor, too, ready to serve when called.

"We will continue to help out anybody who has a need," he added.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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