Las Brisas on Canyon Lake Is Home to Disabled Veteran
Posted by Mary Sallman on Wed, Jun 02, 2010
Veterans Helped by Dan Wallrath
In 2005, Dan Wallrath, a custom home builder in the greater Houston area, created the non-profit organization, Bay Area Builders Association Support Our Troops in response to the housing needs of the disabled veterans and their families. This non-profit organization provides custom made, mortgage free homes to wounded and disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and the widows of the fallen in an effort to get their lives back on track and become productive members of their communities.
The idea for the program came to Wallrath when he was asked to help remodel a home of an acquaintance whose son had returned home injured from Iraq. Lance Corporal Steven Schulz of the United States Marine Corps had suffered brain injuries due to the blast of an improvised explosive device with his HUMVEE. No longer able to walk, the Shulz's home needed to be remodeled.
Wallrath says, "It really broke my heart to think [about] these young men and women," He decided the best way he could help wounded veterans was by doing what he knew best: building them homes.
"It was like someone hit me upside the head with a 2x4. ... I just felt like this is what God wants me to do."
Taking his idea in hand to the local trade group, the Bay Area Builders Association, he convinced members to start a home-building program for wounded veterans.
With donations from suppliers and contractors, Wallrath said, the group can build a $300,000 house for $25,000 to $50,000. Each house is fully furnished and customized to meet the needs of each family and is mortgage-free. The group also covers the taxes and insurance for two years.
This uniquely Texas born program has provided four custom homes to disabled and war fallen veterans and is in the process of building five more. The ninth home will be built at Las Brisas at Ensenada Shores Community in Canyon Lake, Texas.
Due to the success of the program and the desire of hundreds of Builder Associations throughout the nation to help wounded and fallen veterans' families, Support Our Troops has expanded nationwide and is now known as Operation Finally Home. Wallrath says the response has been spectacular. He is tremendously moved by the care and the generosity of the sponsors throughout the United States.
The Dominion Country Club in San Antonio, Texas, a short drive from the Las Brisas community where the home of a wounded war veteran is scheduled to be built this fall, will be hosting the Holes for Heroes Golf Tournament, a fundraiser for Operation Finally Home. Proceeds raised will go towards building mortgage free homes for America's wounded service members. Click here for an entry form or here, to be a sponsor.