The following is the story behind Project: Welcome Home
Back in 2010, one (1) month after the earthquake in Haiti, my father and I went to build housing for those displaced by the earthquake. We built a prototype that was fully furnished, equipped with solar panels, a machine that produced water from humidity of the air, and was completely portable. Here is a link to the video that was on the new
s down in Haiti:
http://youtu.be/NzG_AodqN0E
Shortly after returning, we met a man by the name of Ross Mason. Years prior, Ross was training for an Ironman competition and he sustained an injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down. He runs an organization called HINRI. He is our inspiration for founding this nonprofit. Project: Welcome Home, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides disabled, homeless and also Veterans that suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with environmentally friendly, energy efficient, hi-tech housing specifically designed to address their individual needs, all while, "providing an environment conducive to dignity and independence for our Veterans". In addition to building housing for our disabled and/or homeless Veterans, we are creating jobs for our Veterans as well. These buildings will be built by paid military Veterans and unpaid volunteers. Veteran owned businesses shall be the preferred vendors and contractors. Our purpose is to build small apartment buildings for our disabled Veterans and their caregivers. Each building would be four (4) stories tall and are equipped with both stairs and an elevator. The ground floor of each building will have two (2) commercial spaces available for Veteran owned businesses. The upper floors will have two (2) residential units per floor. Each building will also have a covered handicapped parking area that accommodates six (6) transport vehicles (one per unit). The first residential floor would be off the ground in order to provide additional security and peace of mind to some of those that suffer from PTSD. The only means of entry into the building shall be via the elevator or stairs, which both require a key fob in order to gain access. These buildings would be built with energy efficient building materials that are thermally and acoustically insulating, fire proof, bullet proof and hurricane and earthquake resistant (videos of the material are on our page below); equipped with solar panels to produce clean energy, solar hot water heaters to produce hot water, a two (2) compartment cistern for storing and repurposing rainwater and for storing and repurposing grey water, a machine that produces water from the humidity of the air, etc. Each of the upper floors has two (2) units side-by-side. Each unit is a 1125 square foot two (2) bedroom, two (2) bath unit with kitchen, dining room, living room, and an office/physical therapy area in an open floor plan. All aspects of these units meet and/or exceed the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These buildings meet and/or exceed the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by offering wide door openings, all required grab bars, an open floor plan, voice and motion activated automation (i.e. motorized doors, windows, blinds, lights, television, radio, phone, etc.), adjustable height countertops and wall cabinets, under counter refrigerator, freezer, microwave, washer and dryer; voice and visual intercom system, a lift in the bathroom in order to facilitate utilizing the toilet and entering the tub, toilets with built-in bidet and drying features, a hydrotherapy tub, an adjustable bed, a full set of physical therapy equipment, etc. All of these systems will enable our disabled Veterans to live free from monthly power and water bills. This will also enable them to have the freedom from depending on a caregiver for menial tasks (that many of us take for granted until you no longer may perform them on your own) such as: accessing things in the refrigerator, freezer, or microwave, accessing things on the countertops and in cabinets, opening and closing doors, opening and closing windows, opening and closing the blinds, turning on and off lights, controlling the radio, controlling the television. It will also enable disabled veterans to conduct their physical therapy in the privacy of their own homes.
*The way that we have structured our bylaws here at Project: Welcome Home, Inc., 100% of all donations and grant monies go toward the construction of housing. Absolutely no overhead or salaries are paid from donations or grant monies obtained (unless designated for such use by the donor or grantor in writing). Overhead and salaries are paid out of revenues produced by these buildings in the form of a monthly rent. Project: Welcome Home, Inc. "Providing an environment conducive to dignity and independence for our Veterans"
