Good things happen when you read. Army MSG Eric Marts of Moorhead read an online newspaper about an organization that presents mortgage-free homes to disabled veterans. Marts, well known in the community and country for his advocacy work for veterans, was injured in two separate IED blasts in Iraq. His sight is gone.
On Saturday Eric and his wife, Bobbie, were escorted to Moorhead’s American Legion Post 21 by Moorhead Police to the first of three ceremonies that will provide them with a house, built with Eric’s needs in mind.
Homes for Our Troops breaks ground this week for a heated-slab home near Moorhead that will have audio and Braille markers throughout the house. Eric will have freedom and security.
Within a year, Eric and Bobbie will have an accessible home. The parents of five and grandparents of six will have a home they all fit. They will have a home where they can cook together, be together and do many things that living in a 20-year-old trailer house does not allow.
An important member of the family, Cpl. Deacon, Eric’s Seeing Eye Guide Dog, will be able to escort Eric properly through doorways and around the home. The two have been partners for eight years. Eric is happy that the slab will be heated because Deacon will be more comfortable. The trailer floor is cold.
Cpl. Deacon will be happy he can go into the bathroom with Eric. “He doesn’t like me out of his sight. In our home now he tries to push his nose under the bathroom door. There isn’t room for both of us in the bathroom. In the new house we’ll have a walk-in shower. Deacon is a water dog so he’ll probably want to come in with me.”
Tim McHale, president and CEO of Homes for Our Troops, asked Eric where he wanted his home built. Eric’s answer was Moorhead. The home could have been anywhere in the United States.
“This is home, my community, my support system, my family,” Eric says. “When I came across Homes for Our Troops in an online article, they had three questions. I answered yes to all three. I was surprised my answers could be yes. And then, they called back. Homes for Our Troops wanted to talk to us, to know more.”
It’s been about a three-year process to get to this point. Veterans must be 100 percent disabled according to Veteran’s Administration regulations.
McHale says the organization uses VA guidelines for HFOT determinations. “Homes for Our Troops builds single-floor, 2,600 square foot homes with about 40 special adaptations. We also include safe rooms that have a FEMA storm level of five.
“We want to give veterans and their families peace of mind. We stay with our veterans. We are more than a homebuilder. We provide three years of financial planning. We try to pull our veterans out of the veteran’s café of going from place to place for care and support.
“We are really in the business of helping to build lives,” McHale, a 35-year veteran himself. “We are purveyors of hope.”
Eric is also a purveyor of hope. He travels the country with Cpl. Deacon at his side. Monday he went to Maryland to address the Combat Casualty Care Research Program neurological team. In October, he will be in Long Beach, Calif., for a fundraiser for the Blind Veterans Association.
Eric goes where he can and does what he can to help veterans, especially disabled veterans, get out in society, to not be isolated.
His WDAY radio show, Heroes of the Heartland, broadcast at 11 a.m. Saturdays is another route he takes to help veterans.
Eric says most disabled veterans are likely to think everyone else is worse off than they are and don’t seek help. He thinks that way, too. That is one of the reasons he is so grateful and thankful.
“My wife, Bobbie, is my caretaker. She is part of the VA program. I couldn’t be who I am without her. As we drove up to the Legion on Saturday she was describing everything to me. Then I could hear the cheering. I was blown away. I just kept thinking I wanted to say thank you to everybody, thank you, thank you.
“I am grateful that Bobbie will have a new home, too. Raising five children meant every dollar had a priority,” he said. “Over all the years we took care of our family we didn’t have a lot. This house gives Bobbie a chance to have what she wants – she’s in charge of aesthetics.”
Dan Parrow of ISR Homes is the build partner for the home and immediate past president of the Home Builders Care Foundation of Fargo-Moorhead. Parrow and Tom Spaeth, president of the Home Builders Association of Fargo-Moorhead are glad to be part of this HFOT build.
They, and others who know about HFOT, are pleased to be part of this project. HFOT is among the few top-rated charities in the country. “Ninety cents of every dollar goes to the home building projects,” McHale said.
McHale does not believe that HOFT is a charity. “Building homes for people like Eric and Bobbie is a moral obligation.
“Eric stood up and swore that he would support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, that he would bear true faith and allegiance, obey orders, follow the Uniform Code of Military Justice, so help him God. We build houses like this for people to make a home,” McHale said.
The community has opportunities to be part of this. There will be a volunteer day and a key ceremony in the spring.
We can volunteer time and/or materials through www.hfotusa.org/Marts; make a tax-deductible donation at www.hfotusa.org/donate; hold a fundraising event with help from www.hfotusa.org/fundraise and spread the word through conversation and social media.
