Over the past three years A Soldier's Journey Home has built a house for three different veterans.
This year ASJH partnered with Nine Line to build a house Sgt Eric Monrante.
This year was a true sense of family amongst everyone involved from volunteers who came from all country,
the firefighters, police, and veterans.
Sgt. Eric Monrante is a true inspiration. He is a disabled veteran, but he still has a deep understanding of the
deaf community. Eric also knows how to sign, which is really cool. This house has been adapted,
so that Eric can live comfortably.
Well one of the greatest things about a soldier's journey home and again
it's also about nine-line foundation the partnership the personnel from both the organizations you have you have
Incredibly talented people that sacrifice their time and their to be away from their families to do this
and without their support and and their skills this would never happen.
Both the soldiers journey home and nine-line foundation or 100%
Volunteer so we have no brick and mortar we have no
No paid salaried employees. We could not do this in this timeframe if we were not working together
Also, we could not have done this in this timeframe without the help of the incredibly talented
students from
Hersey high school who built all the walls and shipped them down here, so it's truly been a collaborative effort and
You know that it takes a community
to build a home for a wounded soldier.
My boss he's actually
he's been in this since the beginning, and he was telling me about it, so I
Heard about it
Last year I couldn't go to the Chicago build
So I made an attempt to make it
Mike Fitzpatrick one of the founding members I suppose he he came to us as a club and
asked for volunteers for Speedwell, Tennessee that was my first build and
and um
Volunteered and that's has happened. I just
fell in love with it and
Thanks to Mike and Bill Wise from Kentucky we from Kentucky. And that's how I got involved in it was through my biker club.
I first got involved with a soldier's journey home
two years ago when they built in Speedwell, Tennessee, I knew a
Firefighter from Knoxville who told me about it
so I helped in two days that year and
Been along ever since
Was at Tony's build and now we're here building for Eric
My friend Bill Wise he'd been involved in it before and I worked with him
And we started he asked me if all over the joint, and I started last year Spring Grove, Illinois
I build houses where I'm from my father is a firefighter for
25 years in our local parishes and as well as my brother
We first got involved with New York says thank you helping out after disasters. You know going to
build
Houses and remodel those who have lost too much everything and we decided that we wanted to start our own
organization for our cause and when we found the veterans
That there were so many of them that needed help and just trying to get back to daily life
we've decided that this is what we want to do and
Once it got rolling I'd hopped on board and been with him ever since
I've been hosting hunts on our ranch for five years now and
Through the group of guys that we have taken out and
somehow Patti got my number and he called me one day and
We talked for about half an hour, and he was told me kind of
what y'all did and asked me if I could kind of help out just being the general contractor and
after talking to him
I you know I said yeah, I'd be something y'all need to come down and talk and we'll figure out
what all you know what my role needs to be and
At the end of our conversation
He said Eric could be happy Eric's gonna be happy, and I said well who's Eric and he said Eric Marathe
We're building the house for him
I've taking Eric hunting four times, so I told him then for sure I was like yeah This is something that will definitely help you out with
there was an organization
called smokin angels that had accepted the
Food handling and foods supplying service on this run
so they contacted me as well cuz I'm
friends with the people
and
We had a trailer so we decided bring the trailer out and help supply and cook and make sure that everybody got a warm meal
Whenever they got a break
So from my understanding where a soldier's journey home strength was is the
Work the planning well some of the planning. We're able to get the the stuff done and
nine-line has been really good at
fundraising and
and helping with the monetary stuff, so
It kind of worked well. They've helped a
huge amount with the funds and
and we're able to provide the labor and
The plans for the home and so it was just a great partnership, that's where a soldier journey home had had issues before
Was just finding funds to do everything that we wanted so it's really been good.
My my whole family is military and so, I hope that's how I was raised a bunch around a bunch of them
So I've always wanted to kind of give back because they give a lot for us
they go out and defend our country for us, so I mean if they get injured in combat I see no problem with helping them out
so the support from the local community from our GC
To the roofers to the sheet rockers every most of them are volunteer effort
So that enables us to be able to accomplish our mission much more quickly.
to help the veterans to help these wounded warriors they're there. They're men that almost gave it all up. They're men that almost
Died for this country
And no one is more deserving
Than the selected ones that we we build these houses for and you know it's a shame
We can't build a house for every wounded warrior in the country but
it's just it'd be a
Massive undertaking, and I just you know if we can get one at a time
There's really all we we can do and need to do
a lot of the volunteers
and the core group here are
Firefighters and a lot of them are also
former military veterans
just the
The work ethic and everyone is is a lot it seems to be a lot like the the military drive that they give us
Also just the patriotism and camaraderie
between the the men and women here is just
It's very
reminiscent of the he stuff I had in the military.
Anytime they need something I know where all
to pick up
materials and as well as contractors to fill in we had a few that backed out on us at the last minute so I
Was able to pick some guys up and bring them over
Everybody that has been a part of this journey with us we could not have done it alone
A soldier's journey home and nine-line Foundation have independently built four houses
but given all the
Circumstances of this build it was much a much shorter timeframe for a soldier's journey home than normal. They normally build in May or June
For us, too
but it's also nice to be able to come together as a community and see the
Fruition of your work rather than just handing it over so you know from our GC is standing over there
And he has been critical and you know when he donated his time and efforts
It was phenomenal then to be able to get the donations out through the roofers
The tile guys everything
The most gratifying thing that I've ever been involved with I enjoy it I've just
grown to
Feel like I have to be here these builds every year like I said I miss Spring Grove
and I regret that but I plan on making every other build because it's such a
Fulfilling thing to me. It's it's like it's
hard to describe the feeling
very um
Don't know how to put it exactly just total gratification
I run the landscape side of things so when we got here the foundation was four feet above what we thought it was gonna be
And we had to cover it up in the wall that you see right here
was not planned not at all so we scrambled at the last minute, and we actually had a
Some money come through with simplify fund helping with the handicapped accessibility to the house and with that they helped purchase what you see is Everything outdoors right now
One of the things we do with the soldiers journey home is we don't build the same house all the time
We actually design the houses to
actually be built for the
Recipient we look at the needs that they have and will actually build the house for what they for their injury
The first three days were kind of slow, and they kind of worried me
But I knew once we got the house the roof roof on and dried in that it would be able to
Get to rolling a little smoother, and it did we'll be done here today. So that's the whole journeys been a lot of fun
My inspiration comes from everyone. That's here
Just watching them seeing what they do
I'm having a knack for this type of work. I enjoy just watching everyone else so even jobs
I having fun to learn more and do more.
In Speedwell we met Trey and Pleet Smith
Fleet is a trim carpenter and
So they have been doing our trim work
Since then
Typically on a new construction like this you know we have a master plan way before we even get to the point of showing up
But like I said throwing the curveball at us with the foundation being up
We really designed on the fly which I'm not it's not uncommon to design on the fly
But you know normally something on a fast build we have very organized before we get here
But due to the foundation troubles. They had getting deeper. It was it is what it is at this point so
You know I'm working with the local landscaper here from San Antonio
His name is Randy Snell with veterans lawn care
We partnered up. He was actually just supposed to be helping out cooking and
He come through and helped me with the design. Cuz you know being out of my element not being from here
I don't know the
Lay of the land or where to shop or anything like that so he jumped right in and helped us out greatly
Just organization skills you know
Organizations and outreaches, and you know all of us in America want to try to help each other
There's some sense in us as a duty or some kind of brotherhood bound some by some way or another
At which point you know it's everybody just steps up to the plate and does what they're asked to do and get it done
One of the big differences between last year and this year's build is definitely the weather weather has been a huge factor in this
if you remember last year we were able to
Pretty much throw the entire house up and assembled kind of on the first day
This year it took three days, and it was because of the weather.
I love it. This is what I do back home not only cuz on its what I know, but it's what I enjoy
So it's great to be able to use my skills and knowledge for such a great cause
It's probably the teamwork. I mean everyone
Here is thousands of miles away from each other, and you just get together and everyone just works together
And it's a it's a new experience I've never been to Texas
I get to see a lot of new things and meet a lot of new people
I've done most of the trim around here the doors
Working on ceilings the front porches are so beautiful
We use cedar on pretty much every house that we are going to do and not only is it an aesthetic look but it smells incredible
If you take a look at the gentlemen there behind you in this interview they are
Heroes helping heroes and that Brotherhood. That's there is a bond that can't be broken
It's been tested with time and child, and if this is many builds that done together, and it grows stronger every day
just the
The fact that so many people come from so many different
areas and backgrounds really and we can all show up in different corners of the country different areas and
just come together for this cause for for Eric and last year Tony and
And there's really no no conflict or anything everybody works like a well-oiled machine
Even though we we only see each other for two weeks out of the year
it's it's really amazing how everyone can group together around one individual cause
Fantastic with turning around and reaching out to the community to get community involvement in it like I said the fundraising aspect of it
but they they're definitely a
A huge part of this build this build would not be able to be completed without the efforts that they put into this
Megan Hustler who was their president has
Been instrumental in getting this project off the ground and getting it to the stage it's at right now
Everyone just took vacation time and
Came out here and got together and everyone's working together to build this house in ten days
Each year we go into a different community and work with a veteran and we have local support and
when we went to Ringgold, Georgia
outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee the Chattanooga fire department wanted to get on board.
Helps being around the Brotherhood of better
It was just everybody somebody that's been through the same thing that you have so it just kind of helps us out
Helps us to believe we joke around with each other like like brothers and sisters
and uncles
And it doesn't matter how mad we get at each other yelling and screaming at the end of the day we go sit down
Have dinner laugh about it and just enjoy our lives together well
I just love doing this and almost every one of these guys around here and gals where we're all family. You know we
Couldn't could enjoy a better group of people
Over the last 12 days here in New Braunfels, Texas this build site has had a lot of struggles and much to
overcome, but as a family usually does, everyone pulled together to make this amazing dream house become a
reality. For DHTV, I'm Andrew Wisniewski.
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