Seabrook man's bike plight leads to surprise delivery from a stranger
Dominique Capers pedaled home from work in the dark Wednesday night as he does almost every day.
An old beach cruiser bicycle has long been his ride to and from his food service job at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort mess hall. It's a 24-mile round trip from his home in Stuart Point.
He leaves home just after 5 a.m. and leaves sometime after 7:30 p.m. when the dinner shift ends.
This Wednesday night, though, was different.
As he drove along S.C. 21, Kyle Warren spotted Capers struggling on the side of the road with the bike. The chain was tangled up and Capers was trying to use the lights from passing cars to fix it, work that put him dangerously close to the road.
Warren, headed home to Dale from a movie, turned his Chevy Malibu around and gave Capers a ride home. Warren later posted about the encounter on Facebook.
That got wheels turning elsewhere.
A NEW RIDE
On Thursday, a surprised Capers was presented a new Huffy bicycle, compliments of a stranger from Charleston who runs a nonprofit group that helps veterans in need and is friends with Warren. Jessy Harper started Operation Veterans Relief in 2013 after receiving help of his own after his home was almost foreclosed on.
" I heard about your situation and I didn't want you to have to go through that," Harper said when he presented the bike to Capers at Goodwill's Job Link Center on Parris Island Gateway. "I just wanted to make sure you had a safe method of transportation back home. ...I know that your job in some form or another directly impacted service members, and that's who my organization is designed to help."
Warren was also there Thursday, along with Amber Mulligan, an employment specialist at Goodwill. Mulligan oversees Capers' progress in the AbilityOne program that helps those with severe mental or physical disabilities get and keep a job.
Capers has worked on base since April 2014 an d was referred by S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation Department.
Mulligan, who has worked with Warren as part of a Beaufort young professionals group, knew immediately Capers was the man in Warren's Facebook post.
She helped connect the men with Dominique.
The black Huffy has a basket and cupholder. Capers already has a reflective vest, helmet and flashing light.
The protective measures are necessary for Capers' trip, which can eat up six hours or more of his day.
Capers doesn't seemed fazed by his commute. His legs are strong from running track at Whale Branch Early College High School, he said.
A year he ago, he was struck by a motorcycle in a hit-and-run accident and had to limp home with his bike, arriving at 2 a.m. He wasn't seriously hurt and was back to work the next day, though he stopped every few minutes to rest.
"It feels like forever," Capers said of his daily commute.
A NEW GOAL
Capers is employed by Goodwill through subcontractor Sodexo.
He started in the "pot shack" washing dishes and has graduated to a variety of tasks around the mess hall, often staying longer than required.
"Now he's serving on the line, he's doing a lot of things independently," Mulligan said. "He has truly grown from last year."
Stays in the program can range from a few months to three years.
When Mulligan arrived at work at 8 a.m. Friday, Capers was already there. His shift didn't start for three more hours.
Capers learned some graphic design at Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence and hopes to take more design classes in the future.
He likes to draw and sing in his church choir.
For now, work and travel requires almost all of his time.
He plans to begin saving for a car.
"I'm going to try to do that for the new year," Capers said.
Follow reporter Stephen Fastenau at twitter.com/IPBG_Stephen.
This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Seabrook man's bike plight leads to surprise delivery from a stranger."