09/09/2026
Every Village has a story. Ours began with a Veteran, his daughter, and a decision to do something. 🇺🇸
Long before there was Veterans Villages, Bernard Spain served his country in the U.S. Army.
After his military service, Bernard became a successful entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist. His family built Spain’s Cards & Gifts into a 25-store chain and helped turn the yellow smiley face into an American pop-culture phenomenon. 😊 Later, Bernard and his brother Murray built Dollar Express to 106 stores before selling the company to Dollar Tree.
Bernard was known for a simple philosophy:
“Don’t overthink it. Do it.”
Years later, his daughter, Dana Spain, had become a successful real estate developer. Through her work with Veterans, she kept seeing the same problem: far too few safe, affordable places for Veterans to call home.
Frustrated, she brought the problem to her father.
Bernard’s response?
“Don’t you build apartment buildings for a living? Let’s not complain about it. Let’s do something about it.”
And they did.
The Joan & Bernard Spain Family Foundation committed $1 million in seed funding to help turn the idea into reality.
Veterans Villages was born.
In 2023, the Bernard Spain Campus opened in Philadelphia with 47 new homes built around a simple belief:
Veterans deserve affordable, dignified housing they can be proud to call home.
Bernard didn’t live to see the Village bearing his name completed. But the idea he and Dana believed in became real.
What began with a Veteran, his daughter, and a decision to “do something about it” became a place Veterans can call home.
And this is only the beginning. 🇺🇸
Veterans Villages
More than housing. A place to belong.
