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People Taking Action: Navy sailor raises money for Hampton Roads vets

Posted at 9:53 PM, May 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-23 13:51:07-04

NORFOLK, Va. - We tracked down this week’s People Taking Action award recipient at Dead Reckoning Distillery in Norfolk.

The Spartyka Foundation nonprofit is holding a meeting here and we are honoring its founder, Jimi Partyka.

Partyka was clearly surprised as we walked in with our cameras.

Jenny Macpherson - or Jennie Mac as her friends call her -  nominated Partyka. She’s been volunteering with the Spartyka nonprofit for six years and has seen first hand the tireless hours Jimi puts in to make sure wounded warriors, veterans and their families are supported in the community.

“One of the reasons I wanted to honor Jimi is because he’s always honoring other people and I wanted him to feel honored as well because there’s a lot of people who support him and I wanted him to know that," Jenny said.

Active duty Navy, Jimi knows the hardships that come with military life.

“Three generations military, we’ve had someone serving on active duty since WWII," he told us.

The Spartyka Foundation holds many events every year to raise money, including 5k runs, MMA-style fighting events and more.

“We’ve had wounded warrior amputees open for the Tides, we’ve done Wounded Warrior basketball at the Ted Constant Center," Jimi said.

He’s even pulled his resources to help other charities like the making strides against breast cancer organization.

Volunteers gathered tonight to plan their next event.

August Hibbs is a military spouse and she volunteers for the Spartyka nonprofit.

“I’m a military wife. He makes sure I keep myself together, which is why we make sure we make sure he keeps himself together. So it's the whole point why we do this and we’re behind him 100% is because of people like us, people like me," August said.

News 3 presented Jimi with a People Taking Action award and a $300 gift card from our community partner, Southern Bank.

"I appreciate that, thank you," said the humble Navy Sailor.

“Everyone that’s here who backs him up wants to be part of something good," said Jennie.

Click here to learn more about the Spartyka Foundation.