Car wash fundraiser cleans up for veterans

Carl Moore spends two hours each morning working out at the YMCA, which would indicate he is one fit individual.

He probably is, too, for a disabled veteran whose body took several rounds of machine gun fire while on patrol in Boti Kot, Afghanistan. 

Moore, a sergeant, was left with a spinal cord injury and partial paralysis from the waist down. Although he is confined to a wheel chair, he has been walking a few steps using a walker of late. He says he has hope his spinal injury eventually will heal.

His story was discovered by Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit group which builds mortgage-free, specially adapted homes nationwide for severely injured post-911 veterans to enable them to rebuild their lives.

On Friday, Veterans Day, Clear Sunset Car Wash on State Road 64 in Bradenton offered free car washes for any veteran showing a military identification. Business owner Tony Milen is going to donate $1 for every car wash sold through Nov. 17.

"When I read his story online, it struck a note," Milen said. "This was an organization we could get behind."

Homes for Our Troops is building a home in Land O' Lakes for Moore, who with wife Heather has a 7-year-old daughter, Addison.

"I have this difficulty, now it's about what I am going to do about it," Moore said. Car wash.