About Operation: Coming Home.
Help make a wounded veteran feel "right at home" in the Triangle. Operation: Coming Home is a team of veterans, home builders, and other volunteers that are dedicated to providing free housing in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area to severely wounded veterans of recent Middle East wars. Our second "Hero’s Home" project is underway, with the groundbreaking planned for early summer and a completion date of October 2, 2010. Operation: Coming Home is a joint effort of TREAC-Vand the Wake HBA, a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization. All gifts are tax deductible. We're in the midst of selecting our recipient now. If you know of a veteran who qualifies, please forward this application to them.
The Triangle Real Estate and Construction Veterans (TREACV) is a group of military veterans with representatives of all five military branches working in the real estate or construction profession in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill ("Triangle") area of North Carolina. Seeking to give back to our returning warriors from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in early 2007 the group decided to embark upon a meaningful community service project:
Building a "free home" for a severely wounded Veteran from the Middle East conflict.
Soon thereafter, TREACV learned that the Home Builders Association of Raleigh/Wake County(HBARWC) had entertained similar thoughts regarding Veteran support. In a surprisingly short span of time, the two organizations agreed their goals were compatible, and that each organization would benefit from the others expertise, contacts, and structure.
With the first meeting between the two groups occurring in September of 2007, a Task Force was formed to head up the cooperative project, now known as "Operation:Coming Home."
Perhaps not surprisingly, the response was overwhelmingly positive, with local businesses and volunteers rallying to the first project. The response has been just as exceptional for OCH-II. To date we have received donations of a home site by Gaines and Company, Royal Oaks Building Group stepped up to the plate to be the builder once again, materials and supplies are again being donated from Stock Building Supply, and cash gifts are being received from many others. The progress of the home can now be seen via the blog on our home page along with news media clips linked on the website. Plans are being made for the official "handover of the keys" the end of the fall "Parade of Homes" in a ceremony just before Veterans Day on November 4, 2010.
Preparations are well underway for our next Operation: Coming Home and the group is exploring the possibility of expansion to other communities seeking to similarly support our returning troops. We encourage you to click on the "donate now" button on the website home page and help us in our effort to "welcome home" our returning warriors and their families!
How can you help?
here's a ton of work left to make this project a reality. Anyone can offer ideas, services, supplies or donations, so please share your thoughts and talents.
As you think of your participation, please recognize we are different than a Habitat for Humanity project. Professional builders will perform all construction activities including framing, painting, and roofing.