A Crestview veteran became a homeowner today thanks to the national nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes (BHH), which builds/renovates homes and gifts them, mortgage-free, to injured veterans and their families.
“Veterans and their families move around the world during and after their service, which makes it very difficult and hard for them to establish a foundation for themselves and their families,” BHH Director of Construction Rusty Smallwood said. “So these homes are necessary to give them that start that they so deserve for their service to our country and protecting the freedoms for all of us.”
This morning, BHH welcomed home Former Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Williams, alongside his wife and baby girl.
Williams joined the Army at 17-years-old and served three deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq before being medically retired for mental health struggles related to the trauma of war.
“I knew that joining the military and going into a combat job was going to put me in the direct line of fire of combat,” Williams said. “But little did I know the horrors that I’d experience. The traumas that I went through over the three tours that I spent in Iraq and Afghanistan for a combined total of 38 months was terrible. I was injured multiple times … saw multiple people die who I was really close to, and knew of other individuals dying frequently.”
When he returned home, Williams struggled daily with depression and troubled thoughts. He underwent 13 surgeries for injuries obtained in combat and said the recovery process was tough for his family.
“I really want to thank Building Homes for Heroes for giving me the chance to be able to give my family the stability that they deserve,” Williams said. “That way, if I do have to go through some issues again, or if I am in trouble, or if I do hit a black hole, I don’t have to worry about them being homeless or being in a position where they don’t have the stability that they deserve.”
BHH Project Manager Karen Veczko said providing peace of mind with a new home for veterans is the most rewarding part of her job.
“[Williams is] going to have a home now, and to have a stable home and environment will help him healing with his PTSD,” Veczko said. “… Watching them walk into their home … and just, their faces — I’m getting teared up. It’s a very rewarding job. I love working for Building Homes for Heroes, and I will be working here till we can’t do it anymore.”
BHH partners with numerous organizations including JPMorgan Chase, Lowe’s and SAIC.
“We’re super excited about this initiative because we are giving a mortgage-free home to Sergeant Williams and his family,” Chase Community Manager Roneisha Randall said. “… We all want to feel like we have the dream, so to speak, right? The American dream. And so with that being said, we want to make sure that from our organization, that we support our veterans, and this is just a prime example of that.”
