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Danny mccoy
Danny came to Murray House shortly after it opened in 1971. His mom knew Father Wehrlen and she wanted someplace for Danny to be helpful. Danny started coming on Saturday mornings to wash the floors and just help out in general. He was one of our first volunteers. Soon he became part of the family…staff and residents and was a part of everyday activities. During the summer he came along to Camp Alexander. There he helped with setting up activities, maintenance, and helped the staff with the campers.
When Danny finished school, he became assistant to our full-time maintenance man, Mike Basile. Mike taught Danny a lot about how to fix things, flowers and gardening, and yard work. These are Danny’s strong suits. When the group homes and office opened at Wiegand Farm, Danny went, too. He moved into his own home – a small renovated barn and became a full-time employee at DPD. He was an important part of the maintenance team for the rest of his career, which spanned over 41 years. To this day, every flower that blooms on the Farm is a direct result of Danny’s labor of love, in fact, most of the flowers Danny plants come from seeds he has harvested from dried flowers and has grown in Danny’s Place, the barn dedicated in his honor in 2012.
Danny retired from his full-time job at DPD in early 2022. Since that time, he has graciously volunteered his time, helping in so many ways both at Wiegand Farm and throughout all of DPD. In the past year alone, Danny has given over 1,000 hours of his time to beautify the grounds, plant flowers, help with special events, brighten a resident’s day and lend a hand to others whenever possible. No matter the occasion, happy or sad, Danny is always there with his amazing smile and friendship giving back to DPD. Staff and residents alike love Danny.
Danny grew from being a teenager washing floors to a valuable part of DPD and an integral part of the DPD Family and now as an incredible volunteer in our People Need Friends program. Credit with helping Danny along the way goes to Tom Barrett, Julie and Lou Tatti, Rocco Zappile, Mary and Scott Milliken, Joanna Miller, and of course, Danny’s hero, Father Wehrlen.
Congratulations, Danny, on receiving the 2024 Marilyn Murray Keenan Inspiration Award! We love you and we thank God for all the blessings you share with us at DPD!