Hometown Heroes finals event will be held on the USS Little Rock at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park July 13th – 5pm to 8pm
www.buffalonavalpark.org
Hometown Hero – Week 1
Guy Canonico Jr.
Guy is a very special man. He has been a volunteer fire-fighter at Lake Erie Beach for 19 years and is the Evans disaster coordinator. He has special training in ice rescue, water rescue, CPR/First Aid and other special respondent certifications to help respond to various emergencies in his area. He assisted on the onsite response team on 9/11 in NYC. He has contributed his response skills to help and save so many during his 19 years as a volunteer emergency responder and also participated in flood response down state during the hurricane and flooding a few years ago. He also led the response team in assisting evacuations during the flooding in Gowanda in 2008. Guy also has a full time job as a corrections officer and has a lovely family.
Hometown Hero – Week 2
James May
James is a Fire fighter from Sheridan N.Y. He has helped so many by providing help when needed. He is active in the community both in volunteering as am EMT and for those less fortunate. James had a bad truck accident and in the recovery thru surgery, he found that he had a rare form of cancer. He has come thru it all as a stronger better person.
Hometown Hero – Week 3
Joe Tortorella
My name is Erica Tortorella, my husband is Niagara County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Tortorella. Joe was involved in a shootout while on duty on April 17th 2015 on Errick Road in the Town of Wheatfield with an armed man who had just shot both of his parents in the head. Joe was able to strike said male with 3 rounds during a lengthy gun fight in which he was subsequently also struck by a round in his ballistic vest which likely saved his life. During the gunfight Joe was able to radio to Niagara County Dispatch to lock down Errick Road Elementary School which I was teaching in and my son and daughter were in class with hundreds of other elementary school children. The house where this incident took place was approx. 50 feet away from Errick Road School and rounds were flying and ricocheting on to or near school property where Joe placed himself after being shot and losing sight of the suspect. The playground for Errick Road School is actually in the backyard literally of the house where this took place so who knows what might have happened if this armed individual was not subdued by my husband. It is for that reason that I nominate my husband as a hometown hero. We are beyond proud of Joe.
Hometown Hero – Week 4
Josh Lengen
I would like to nominate my son as a Hometown Hero. Josh is a paramedic who not only works full-time as a Paramedic, he also volunteers for two volunteer agencies. Town of Niagara Active Hose and Tri-Community Ambulance. Most recently, Josh was chairman on the committee to purchase a new ambulance for Tri-Community. He put in countless hours doing research and investigating what would be most beneficial on the ambulance, not only for the patients, but for the emergency volunteers. The ambulance was recently dedicated on May 22, 2016. In 2015, his employer, Mercy EMS, a division of Mercy Flight, named him Paramedic of the Year. He also received a Certificate of Commendation for a life he saved in July 2015. He resuscitated a young woman during her cardiopulmonary arrest and she was later discharged from the hospital neurologically intact. When the tones go off for Town of Niagara Active Hose, if he is able to be there he goes, whether it is 3 in the afternoon or 3 in the morning, or as soon as he gets home from working a 24 hour shift. He has been volunteering for a volunteer fire department since he was 16.
Hometown Hero – Week 5
Chris Kreiger
Mr. Chris Kreiger, is a proud US Army veteran and the founder of WNY Heroes, an organization that assists military veterans. Chris’ military resume is quite impressive and spans across a decade. In 2003, Chris served his country as a medic in Iraq. He was hit multiple times by roadside bombs, one of which left him with extensive injuries. Those injuries required him to undergo multiple surgeries on his right leg and lower back. He has also lost significant hearing in both ears and now wears hearing aids. As if that isn’t bad enough, Chris also endured a traumatic brain injury to the left side of his brain that he continues to suffer from to this day. To look at Chris, one would never know what he has been through. He never complains, never asks for help, never feels sorry for himself and never regrets his decision to fight for his country. Instead, he works tirelessly to provide support, help and resources to other veterans who need it. His goal is to ease the transition from combat life to civilian life and eliminate the hardships that many of our veterans face. Chris had every reason to simply give up, but he never did. He picked himself up and everyone else around him and he continues to do that each and every day. He truly is, in every sense of the word, a hero.
