Special needs turn into special bonds
Air Force Lt. honors 8 young folks at his own promotion ceremony
Early in the career of 1st Lt. Eddie Cruz, a mentor, who was a retired Air Force officer, gave Cruz what he says was life-changing advice.
“He said, ‘Eddie, a true leader doesn’t lead from the front, and a true leader doesn’t lead from the back. A true leader leads from the heart using Air Force core values,’” remembered Cruz, a maintenance flight commander of Kirtland’s 58th Special Operations Wing.
It’s with that in mind that Cruz began working with young people with special needs in Albuquerque, some of whom were on hand recently as the airman received his promotion to first lieutenant.
As part of the ceremony, 58th SOW Commander Col. Dagvin Anderson presented eight young adults with Honorary Warrior certificates.
Although the cause for the occasion was his promotion, Cruz said he didn’t want the day to be about him.
“The way I look at it is that these young adults deserve this way more than I do,” he said.
Cruz said he and his fiancée, Yvette Gonzalez, became involved with an organization called Jeremiah’s Place upon meeting their neighbors, Gil and Liz Silva, who founded it. The Silvas have an adult daughter with Down syndrome.
Gonzalez began volunteering there, soon followed by Cruz.
The mission of Jeremiah’s Place is to help young adults with special needs gain independence, encouragement and confidence. Classes teach cooking, physical fitness, technology, reading, writing, arts and crafts, gardening, animal care and more.
Cruz said people with special needs who are about to become adults face certain challenges.
“After a teenager with special needs becomes a young adult, the amount of programs that are out there that will enable them to continue to pursue their education decreases tremendously,” he said. “This program offers young adults (the chance) to continue to learn and become productive, positive members of society.”
Cruz said he gets a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction working with the young people at Jeremiah’s Place.
“I’ve created a friendship with all the students,” he said. “The satisfaction you see on their face when they completed an assignment or answered a question correctly means the world to me.”
For Anderson, Cruz’s enthusiasm for working with the young people is a reminder of the dedication of his airmen.
“This is the exciting stuff for me,” said Anderson about the SOW’s new Honorary Warriors. “You don’t realize how big an impact our airmen make, and we appreciate what Lt. Cruz does. And he’s just one of many.”
Liz Silva said Cruz’s participation at Jeremiah’s Place has been invaluable and made a real impact on the kids.
“Eddie is a great example for these young people,” she said. “He cheers them on. He challenges them. He rallies them up. And he can get them to do things that we can’t. They gravitate toward this young man in the Air Force uniform.”
For more about Jeremiah’s Place, visit www.jeremiahsplacenm.org.