Groups help build homes for veterans

June 28, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By JOSH JARMAN

Columbus Dispatch

NEWARK, Ohio

At three years, Wayne Lupher’s stint in the U.S. Army was relatively short.

An on-base incident while he was serving in South Korea in 1987, however, left him with a permanent back injury that has cost him jobs and two decades of financial insecurity. Now, a coalition of Licking County veterans service organizations has decided that its time for some payback.

Lupher was selected for a first-of-its-kind partnership between local veterans groups and the Licking County Habitat for Humanity, which are teaming up to build Lupher and his family their first home of their own.

Sara Oneson, executive director of Habitat of Licking County, said the idea came to her as she was reading news reports about the many U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with permanent injuries. She said her organization received a blueprint last year from the American Institute of Architects of Ohio designed to be both energy-efficient and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I went to the local Veterans Affairs office and said, ‘There’s no place that’s doing this?’” she said of building handicapped-accessible homes for veterans. “This will be a home they can grow old in, and a new way for us to start building, too.”

Oneson said that conversation led to a partnership between Habitat, the VA and organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion. Together, the groups decided to seek applications from veterans for a Habitat-built home, with Lupher’s family selected by a committee of local pastors.

Christina Lupher said her husband’s injuries stem from an altercation he had while attempting to corral an out-of-control soldier who was putting other soldiers in danger. Her husband fell off a second-story balcony, landing on his feet on the concrete below.

The impact broke both his ankles, she said, and permanently damaged his lower spine. The injury periodically sidelines him, which has caused financial troubles for the couple and their two teenage children.

“I’ve seen him bend over to tie his shoelaces and end up in the hospital for three days,” she said. “If something happens and he can’t work, this payment is something I can afford until we get back on our feet.”

Families who move into Habitat-built homes have to pay back the cost of building the house through a 20-year, no-interest loan that also ties up the home’s equity. To be part of the program, the families also have to pledge to work on their own home and put in at least 100 hours helping to build another family’s house.

A lot of work must be done before the Luphers’ home is a reality.

Fred Lavery, commander of VFW Post 1060 in Newark, said he has received commitments from other county veterans service organizations to donate time and labor to build the Luphers home, but one type of donation has been lagging: money.

The VFW has been selling T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Welcome Home Veteran” and will host a live and silent auction of one-of-a-kind birdhouses July 10 at the VFW hall. It costs about $50,000 to finish a Habitat home. Lavery said he did not know how much the VFW has raised but that it was far short of the goal.