Building Homes for Heroes

Home award program - Building Homes for Heroes is determined and devoted to bringing renewed hope, healing and well-being to our nation's injured veterans. The organization constructs and modifies Homes, and gifts them, mortgage-free, to injured veterans and their families, including gold star families, while providing a growing number of support services to enable them to build better and brighter lives and reach new heights. These mortgage-free Homes not only help to remove the family's financial burden, but they also help to restore the individual's freedom, and enable the veteran to lead a more independent and productive civilian life. All Homes we gift are constructed, customized and beautified to meet the needs of a physically or psychologically disabled veteran and their families, to help improve their day-to-day quality of life and to lead a hopeful future ahead. The organization reached more than one home every 11 days for a tenth consecutive year, on average, in 2022, and hopes to reach more than 40 Homes in 2023, including our milestone 343rd home in honor of the 343 fdny firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11. We've found that the gift of a mortgage-free home provides permanent stability and a life-changing foundation for the veteran to pursue their dreams, professionally, academically and recreationally, that they might never have imagined following their injuries, and sets them on a path towards improving their physical health and mental well-being on their road to recovery. It's truly an honor to serve the amazing men and women who have courageously served and sacrificed so much for all of us and for our country.

Emergency funding - with the state of the economy and the inflation rate running at a 40-year high, more families are struggling than ever before and we are receiving a raised level of financial concerns, day-to-day concerns and bankruptcy concerns. This all-important program allows us to help veterans during these hard financial times, as well as sudden life-altering moments in their lives. These moments can include, but are not limited to, the loss of job, an illness, or a major repair needed due to disastrous weather events such as hurricanes, flooding or tornadoes. The organization also provides immediate assistance to veterans who are experiencing homelessness or are on the brink of homelessness. Already among our nation's most vulnerable populations, these funds helped our veterans purchase essential items for the families, and was yet another way of letting our Heroes know they are appreciated and cared for during challenging times.

Physical, mental and financial wellness - Building Homes for Heroes goes above and beyond to create services to enable veterans to build better and brighter lives and reach new heights, and provides a fundamental basis for family connectivity, hope and healing, camaraderie, communication and promise towards their physical health and mental well-being. One big aspect of this is in 2022 was our financial wellness program. To improve their financial well-being, the organization provides guidance needed to maintain home expenses and to plan for a successful future. To achieve that end, we offer partnerships with certified financial professionals to assist them through their finances and help veterans and their families focus on living a promising and productive stress-free life, while also learning about investing and saving for the future. When emergency watershed funding is required, the organization steps up to handle special cases. The emergency funding can positively impact a military family during a time of crisis. A major focus of the financial support program is to highlight the importance of minimizing or eliminating debt entirely, and the freedom it provides to live an ever more hopeful future ahead with new opportunities never before imagined prior to receiving the support of bhh and all of our generous supporters. This program has led to an extremely successful track record of home management and success with our families. To date, not a single family has a lost their home for financial reasons as a result of this program. In 2023, we will further expand our programs in physical health and mental well-being with the hope of helping thousands of Heroes.