Walk into Leilani Asian Fusion, the new upscale restaurant in downtown Aurora, and the first thing you will notice – even before the food and the friendly staff – is the eye-popping decor. That includes a sea of dark wood that not only make up some of the furnishings, including benches and countertops, but also the dividers and wall decor that gives this Filipino/Pan Asian restaurant such a warm but elegant ambiance. The millwork is beautiful. It’s distinctive. It’s got a story to tell. And the narrators to best tell it are the men responsible for creating it. You see, this woodwork, this project, this restaurant turned out to be far more than a job for one of them. His name is Joe Sutton, a Marine Corps veteran whose extensive military service included two tours of duty in Iraq. Hit with PTSD and some dramatic life challenges that could take down even a person not struggling with combat demons, Sutton wanted to end his life about eight months ago. But somehow, through divine intervention and/or a Facebook support group called Marines of the Burbs, the 40-year-old Yorkville man walked through the doors of an out-of-the-way basement workshop along the Fox River on Stolp Island in downtown Aurora. There he teamed up with Greg Zilioli, the owner of that workshop and founder of A Call to Shoulders, a nonprofit with a mission to help veterans like Sutton, who served their country honorably, even heroically, but came back to find a home that no longer seemed welcoming. There are plenty of Joe Suttons out there. According to government and private research data, veterans commit suicide nearly twice as often as civilians, with numbers between 17 and 22 a day, depending on who is included. That “22 a Day” call to action led directly to Zilioli forming A Call to Shoulders to help “carry that heavy burden” too many vets are under, he says. Which brings us back to the workshop inside that historic 1853 dye house, where in 2017 Zilioli created a safe space for veterans to make handcrafted items, with the idea of not only teaching them a skill but giving them the opportunity to start their own at-home hobby or business with proceeds from product sales. Marine Corps veteran Joe Sutton, left, and A Call to Shoulders founder Greg Zilioli stand near some of the millwork they created, including benches and wall decor, for the newly-opened Leilani Asian Fusion restaurant in downtown Aurora. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News) Roosevelt-Aurora American Legion Post 84 Cmdr. Mike Eckburg describes Zilioli as a “well respected and recognized friend to the veteran community,” noting the “many beautiful wood-related products that could be classified as pieces of art” Zilioli has helped these vets make. “A Call to Shoulders is a hidden pearl to many veterans who are unaware of it,” he continued. “I encourage all to check out this gem.” So far around 200 have come through these basement-on-the-river doors, including nine local vets who created 160 beautiful military-color pens that were gifted to participants of a local Marine golf outing in 2022. Sutton made his first pen in April of this year. Since then, however, he and Zilioli have carved a lasting footprint in the city’s downtown they hope will bring more attention to this nonprofit that has a simple mission for a complex issue. Which brings us back again to the new restaurant at 2 N. River St. Zilioli, who had turned to woodworking in 2015 to help get through his own dark days after his job heading a motorsport marketing tour came to an end, first got involved with the millwork contract for the restaurant through a partner. Which was a big bite to chew off, he admits, in part because the custom design in Leilani Asian Fusion was so unique. The drawings, the deadlines were a challenge, and at times “it got stressful,” admits 54-year-old Zilioli, especially after he lost the partner and money became tighter. In the end, most of the labor was shouldered by Sutton and him, putting in 15-hour days, seven days a week, including about three months where “we were working for free,” he says, because “I was not going to let us not finish this project.” Turns out it was a small price to pay. “This program saved my life,” insists Sutton, whose stoic demeanor fails to hide raw emotion as he describes the darkness he felt for so long and how it gradually lifted by the support found inside that basement workshop. That sense of purpose, he adds, carried over to the restaurant as he and Zilioli – with the help of a handful of others – cut, sanded, stained, assembled and installed the solid wood artistic design elements that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. Zilioli admits A Call to Shoulders requires a balancing act to stand on the three legs needed to keep going: more funding to purchase supplies; more veterans coming through its doors; and more businesses stepping up to support what these men and women have to offer. A Call to Shoulders founder Greg Zilioli, front, and Marine Corps veteran Joe Sutton look over some of the many pens vets have made in the nonprofit’s workshop in downtown Aurora. (Denise Crosby / The Beacon-News) “But keeping the organization afloat is not the mission,” insists the founder. “It’s helping people like Joe find purpose … to get to them before they get to the point where he was. “Veterans are still struggling out there,” he adds. “We can’t forget that.” Zilioli hopes those who patronize and appreciate the ambiance of the city’s newest restaurant will also remember. “I am so grateful for the opportunity they gave us,” he says. But Leilani co-founder and executive chef Garnett Chavez considers himself the winner. Standing inside the restaurant during Monday’s noon hour, he was all smiles as he pointed out the handiwork of A Call to Shoulders. That’s because more than a partnership was formed in those hectic few months as they prepared for the August grand opening of the restaurant. “These guys are great,” says Chavez, who is also proud of the woodworking skills he attained under the tutelage of the former Marine and the man he describes as his humble savior. “They have become like family.” Which is how Sutton was treated recently when he took his own family, including wife Paula – who also pitched in to meet the project’s deadline – to Leilani’s in celebration of his 40th birthday. “We knew Joe was coming on that day and we knew we needed to make it special,” says Chavez. “He is more than amazing. He is one of us.” [email protected]