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As 2010 comes to a close, Homes for Our Troops is near a milestone. It soon will have built its 100th home for severely disabled veterans. It has made a profound and lasting impact on the lives of people who have sacrificed much on behalf of this nation.
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| Having a bad hair day? Wake up with a stiff neck? Got a touch of tendonitis? Bump your head on a kitchen cabinet? For most of us, particularly those on the north side of thirty, life is just chock full of small aggravations and minor annoyances. We respond to these vexations with a rub, a tub, piles of pain relievers, visits to the chiropractor and incessant muttering of varying degrees of intensity, depending on the perceived sympathy of our audience. Without questioning the merits of any of these responses, I’d like to offer another alternative.
Put yourself in the shoes of one of the severely disabled veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. For some of these veterans, actually wearing shoes is a dimming memory. Since 2001, nearly two million of our nation’s sons and daughters — and yes, they also are our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers — have answered the call to duty. Over 5,000 of these brave men and women have been killed. Nearly 35,000 have suffered serious physical injuries. Of those 35,000, some have paid a terrible price, suffering wounds that cost them their independence. We have minor muscle aches, their injuries include amputations, paralysis, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, blindness and severe burns.
I’m thinking about these veterans, and Veterans Day, because we are working with a wonderful nonprofit called Homes for Our Troops. Several years ago John Gonsalves, a construction supervisor from Raynham, Massachusetts, saw a news story about a soldier who lost both of his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq. There’s a good chance quite a few people saw the same story, and, unfortunately, a lot of us have seen similar stories, for wars always take a terrible toll on those who serve and their loved ones. But after seeing that story John did something that most of us do not do. He recognized that veterans who were injured so severely would need homes that were designed to accommodate the challenges they now faced. He learned that there was no organization that was providing these specially adapted homes, and he decided that he would commit to finding a way to help. In February of 2004, John founded Homes for Our Troops.
As 2010 comes to a close, Homes for Our Troops is near a milestone. It soon will have built its 100th home for severely disabled veterans. It has made a profound and lasting impact on the lives of people who have sacrificed much on behalf of this nation. But there is more to do. Homes for Our Troops has a growing backlog of severely disabled veterans who need homes, and is launching a campaign to raise the funds to build 100 more homes. Reaching that goal will be a tough, uphill climb, but the effort involved pales in comparison to the reward of restoring a measure of freedom and independence to the severely disabled veterans who have come to count on the hope provided by Homes for Our Troops.
Tomorrow, if you feel that twinge in the morning, or discover another part that seems be to failing, take a moment to think about the severely disabled veterans whose lives have been altered forever. The thought won’t make the injury disappear, but if, perchance, it leads you to decide you want to do something to help those veterans, and you act on that decision, you soon will feel far better.
Tom E. Davis is Vice President of Susan Davis International, a Washington based public affairs consulting firm.
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