| xoxoxoBruce |
07-11-2009 11:13 PM |
July 12, 2009: Homes for Disabled Vets
I caught this on EHOWA NSFW.
http://cellar.org/2009/homesfor.jpg
Quote:
Marine Staff Sgt. John Jones reluctantly applied to the Homes for Our Troops program while recovering from the amputation of both lower legs.
In fact, it took a direct order from his commanding officer at the hospital in San Antonio to get Jones to fill out the paperwork.
Two years went by and Jones forgot about the application. He moved his wife, Amber, and three children to Fort Collins to start a new life.
"We needed to get away from the eyes of war and be closer to family," Amber Jones said.
He started taking classes at CSU's business school and became one of two disabled veterans enrolled in the first-ever Operation Wall Street, a six-month immersion program in the financial industry created by the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation.
The couple picked out a lot in far southeast Fort Collins and began making tentative plans to build a home.
Then in December, Jones, 32, got the call from Homes for Our Troops that he had been accepted and would get a brand new house. The program even bought the lot the family had picked out.
The 4,200-square-foot home is being built primarily with donated materials and volunteer labor. Jones had to relinquish $110,000 of his Veterans Administration benefits for the house and will have to pay to finish the basement.
Before accepting the house, Jones made sure other veterans on the program's list who had worse injuries were taken care of first.
"We were amazed," said Amber Jones, 26. "This is the biggest thank-you anyone can give him. It gives him great peace of mind."
John Jones said the reality of what he's being given still hasn't sunk in even though he's been watching the house go up.
"I still can't imagine it," he said. "I know it's real, but it hasn't really sunk in."
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Great program, although way too small to help all that need it.
If she gets a protection order and divorces him, who gets the special house?
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