Lisa is a military wife and mother to six children, who can be found regularly at Crazy Adventures in Parenting, writing about life in the military and being a ‘mom to many’, with recipes, saving money, crafts, and more, all while finding the humor in it all.

Being a military wife, I don’t think I can convey to you how scary it is to ‘get the call’ that your other half has been called to war. Sure, there’s always that chance that he be put in harms way. It becomes so much more a reality the day your husband comes home with his newly issued desert camos for the first time. It was one thing to learn of his upcoming deployment back in 2003, but it was quite another the day he arrived home with that new uniform. Back then, the Army had two uniforms issued to those in service (since it has gone to one) - BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) also called ‘jungle camos’, and DCUs (Desert Combat Uniforms) also called ‘desert camos’. You were only issued the latter if you were deploying to ‘the sandbox’. This was our first deployment. As you can imagine, I was besides myself. And pregnant with my now 4-year-old. I was a mess.

I don’t think I could tell you what would have happened to me or my family if he hadn’t come back as beautiful as the day he left. I can’t imagine anything ever happening to him, ever, much less what has happened over ‘in the sandbox’ to some of our courageous brothers and sisters, also fighting for our freedom. It is well beyond dangerous ‘over there’, with roadside bombs, RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades), snipers, and so much more, threatening their safety daily. My husband was lucky. He came home injury-free. Some aren’t as lucky. And while the government takes great care of our soldiers’ medical needs, who return home wounded, helping them recover from their injuries and getting them the proper treatments needed, the government, however, does not cover everything else, including what they end up going home to - an inadequate home, not accommodating their special needs and injured bodies.

I try to envision what it must be like for these soldiers’ families, to learn their loved one was hurt, almost killed, and now faces a life of therapy, surgeries and much more, only to find out that, even if they could go home to their worried families, their home can’t accommodate them, as it isn’t equipped for them to live in. I am almost in tears writing this, imagining how that must feel, to have been so proud to have made a home for your family, for your soldier, only for it to not be ‘enough’ for them now that they are injured. Instead of being able to rejoice that they are indeed still alive and still with you, you are left to worry because they aren’t able to function living in your now inadequate house. There is so much they will have to adapt to already, not being able to live the life they once led, not being able to serve their country any longer - a life interrupted - I am so grateful that there is an organization that has made it their mission to help these fine soldiers and their families create homes suitable for them after what they went through. It is my honor to introduce you to Homes for Our Troops:

Homes for Our Troops is an organization founded in 2004, strongly committed to helping those who have selflessly given to their country and have returned home with serious disabilities and injuries. They assist severely injured Servicemen and Women and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor, along with coordinating the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility, at no cost to the veterans.

The major hurdle many of these veterans and their families are facing is recovery. All of their time is spent trying to recover from the severe injuries and disabilities they have suffered, as well as trying to find a new way to support their families since they can no longer serve their country. This includes someday having a home of their own adapted to their special needs. Finding a contractor to build that new handicap-accessible home, or to make the necessary adaptations to their existing home, is a monumental task in and of itself, even without all of the immediate worries these veterans are already facing. Not to mention many of these veterans are young men and women with young families who simply don’t have the financial means to buy a home of this magnitude, let alone the necessary repairs to the one they may already have to accommodate their needs.

Homes for Our Troops steps in where needed with a project and, if necessary, takes on all of the planning, scheduling, and building. The veterans and their families are part of the process, but Homes for Our Troops coordinates everything and takes a lot of the financial and decision making load off of the family’s shoulders, so they can concentrate on getting their life back together, and getting their disabled soldier recovered.

You may have seen Homes for Our Troops on Extreme Home Makeover helping a couple families, and seen for yourself on the television program the great work they do. I am honored to have the ability to share this organization with you and have it be featured here at The One Dollar Give. $1 from you will help Homes for Our Troops build an injured soldier the ramps needed for him to enter his home. $1 from you will help Homes for Our Troops put handles in their restroom. $1 will help a family be able to welcome their hero home, to a home they can now live in together as a family. $1 will ease the mind of a military wife who just wants to move on with her family complete, in a home suitable for them.

Thank you so much for allowing me this opportunity to help Homes for Our Troops help these families. It means more to me than you know.

To donate $1 to Homes for Our Troops to help provide suitable housing for injured soldiers, click here. Please use “One Dollar Give” in the dedication portion of the donation form. After you’ve donated, come back and vote in the poll so that we can count donations!

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(Yes, the poll offers you the choice between “Yes.” and “Yes.” because I didn’t think we really needed to count the “No” answers, and the poll required two choices! Hey, it’s not a perfect system, but it’ll work!)