{"id":1132,"date":"2014-01-08T14:33:28","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T20:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2014-01-08T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T20:51:34","slug":"danny-wannage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2014\/01\/08\/danny-wannage\/","title":{"rendered":"DANNY WANNAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI Owe Them My Life\u201d \u00a0 Local Man Gives To\u00a0Students At St. Louis, Receives It Back Tenfold<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Karla Wall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danny Wannage has worked hard all his life \u2014 as a manual laborer and an auto parts store manager, among other jobs.<\/p>\n

In late 2009, Wannage, feeling retirement age creeping up on him, decided to try to find a position that would be a good retirement job for him: that would allow him some income and benefits throughout his retirement years. In December of 2009, he began work as a janitor at St. Louis High School.<\/p>\n

It was a perfect fit for Wannage, who says he\u2019s \u201calways loved kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wannage became far more to the students of St. Louis than the person who cleaned the school\u2019s floors. He developed friendships with the students and staff; worked with the sports teams, \u201ccleaning uniforms, getting food for them after the games, whatever they needed.\u201d He went to all the school\u2019s games. He gave boxes of candy and small gifts to special needs students at the school. If a parent had to bring lunch to a student after school had started, Wannage met the parent in the parking lot and brought the student\u2019s lunch to his or her locker.<\/p>\n

He loved the kids, and they loved him. \u201cIt was totally the opposite of how you\u2019d expect a janitor to be treated,\u201d Wannage says. \u201cNo one looked down on me. It was a great relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as Wannage gave the students at St. Louis, he\u2019d end up receiving it back tenfold.<\/p>\n

Wannage had been having back problems for some time when he began working at St. Louis. His doctor had told him he\u2019d need surgery, and Wannage waited until summer break of 2011 to have it done. Everything was supposed to be so simple, he says \u2014 a guaranteed 99-percent success rate. He thought the surgery would be the end of it.<\/p>\n

It was the beginning of a two-year-long nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing well after the surgery,\u201d he says. \u201cBut a few days after the surgery, I got up from sitting and heard a loud popping, and there was a lot of pain in one of my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nerves in Wannage’s leg had been damaged, and he was told he\u2019d require another surgery to correct this problem. He had the procedure, and told St. Louis he would be back to work by March 17 of 2012.<\/p>\n

He wouldn\u2019t make that date.<\/p>\n

A couple of days after the surgery to repair the nerve damage, he noticed pain and swelling at the incision site. A nurse practitioner at his doctor\u2019s office told him to simply put a heating pad on the site, which did relieve the swelling. But the next day, Wannage found he couldn\u2019t even walk. He\u2019d require yet another procedure, one of six or seven yet to come.<\/p>\n

By this time, Wannage had had no income for nearly a year, and was facing losing his home, an apartment near the Prien Lake Mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was about to be homeless,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d even talked to the Salvation Army about a space in a shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wannage<\/a><\/p>\n

Wannage and former St. Louis baseball players Chris Stout in 2011<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wannage had been attending church regularly throughout this period, and one Sunday, as Wannage was at perhaps the lowest point of his life, a guest speaker gave the sermon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if you have absolutely nothing. I don\u2019t care if you\u2019ve lost everything. It isn\u2019t over until God says it\u2019s over,\u2019\u201d Wannage recalls.<\/p>\n

Three days later, Wannage would learn the truth of that statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting at a bus stop, waiting to take a bus back home, and one of the students from St. Louis passed by. He stopped, turned around and came back by. He asked how I was doing, and asked if I wanted a ride home. On the way to my apartment, we were talking, and I told him what had been going on, and what my situation was.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days later, the student went to the administration at St. Louis and asked if he could begin a collection for \u201cMr. Danny.\u201d The administration agreed, and a couple of days later, Wannage received the shock of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral students and a couple of the parents visited my apartment, and told me they\u2019d collected money for me,\u201d Wannage says. \u201cTo this day, I don\u2019t know how much it was, but it must have been in the thousands. I told them to keep the money and manage it, and pay my bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students also told Wannage that they wanted to help him get out of his apartment, which was in a rather crime-ridden neighborhood, and move to another, safer location. They put down a deposit on a new apartment on Enterprise Blvd.<\/p>\n

The students paid Wannage’s bills each month with the donated money, gave him money each week for food and medicine, visited him regularly to see if he needed anything, bought groceries for him, and treated him to the \u201cbest Christmas I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d giving him a television and other gifts. They picked him up and brought him to school sports games. The baseball team even brought him along to the state championship last year \u2014 Wannage traveled with the team, meals and room provided, and attended the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve given me so much,\u201d Wannage says simply. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt so loved in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

To this day, he says, students still call, visit and check up on him. And they still take him to St. Louis High games.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne student brought me $200 the other day,\u201d he says. \u201cHe bought groceries for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wannage is up and around now, and despite some pain and weakness in his leg, he\u2019s doing well physically. Though St. Louis High couldn\u2019t hold his job for him throughout his long recovery, he\u2019s looking for work elsewhere. And he\u2019s optimistic about his future now, thanks to those students from St. Louis.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The students\u2019 generosity) has given me a whole new outlook on life,\u201d Wannage says. \u201cAnd a new respect for the new generation coming up. You hear all of the bad things about kids nowadays, but there are good young people out there. I was about to be homeless, and these students and their parents opened their arms to me. I owe them my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI Owe Them My Life\u201d \u00a0 Local Man Gives To\u00a0Students At St. Louis, Receives It Back Tenfold By Karla Wall Danny Wannage has worked hard all his life \u2014 as a manual laborer and an auto parts store manager, among other jobs. 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