Kohler donates lawn tractor and engines to family in need
Kohler Engines recently donated three engines and a lawn tractor powered by a Kohler engine to the Gibbs family of West Union, Iowa. The family of six, including mother Audrey who is legally blind, is the focal point of one of the last episodes of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which will air Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, at 8 p.m. EST/PST before the series finale.
“Kohler Co. has a long history of supporting the good works of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” said Justin Blount, director of marketing for Kohler Engines. “It is only fitting that Kohler Engines was able to aid the Gibbs family, whose children are also quite interested in engines and how they work.”
The three oldest sons — Josh, Nathan and Thomas — are all engine enthusiasts. Kohler Engines donated a Kohler Courage XT, Kohler Command PRO single-cylinder, and Kohler Courage V-Twin engines for the boys to “tinker” with at their leisure. The family also received a Craftsman 54-inch garden tractor powered by a 26-horsepower Kohler Command PRO engine to mow their more than two acres of land.
Kohler’s donations will benefit Audrey Gibbs and her family. Gibbs, who is a mother, widow, farm owner and maternal optimist, won’t let anything stop her from raising her six children, not even her blindness and her battle with a potentially fatal disease.
Seven months after her husband died, Audrey had a brain aneurism that affected a quarter of her brain — leaving her legally blind. The doctors cannot say if she is going to lose her sight completely or even if she is going to live or die. Audrey has always been pragmatic and has no time for self-pity. She is passionately committed to do whatever it takes to raise her kids. Realizing she could not continue working as a cosmetologist, Audrey decided to attend massage therapy classes as she knew it was a career she could still practice after losing her sight. The Gibbs family own and live on a farm which they rent portions of to local farmers for additional income. Their farmhouse needed significant repair with no working toilet, a ceiling that is caving in, and a layout that does not work for the family, especially Audrey if she completely loses her eyesight.
