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Bank of America donated the home through the Military Warriors Support Foundation
LORDSTOWN
The first thing Adrianna Jenkins did after she ran into the family’s new home was claim the bedroom with the cloth butterfly decorations on the wall and begin deciding where her bed would go.
The 7-year-old is the daughter of Joe L. and Amy Jenkins, who received the keys to a renovated, three-bedroom, two-bath, mortgage-free home in Lordstown donated by Bank of America Corp. Merrill Lynch in partnership with the Military Warriors Support Foundation.
Adrianna has two brothers, Hunter, 6, who is severely autistic, and Elijah, 18 months.
“The house is great. We couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Jenkins, 31, an Army veteran wounded in Iraq in February 2007 and recipient of the Purple Heart.
He sustained shrapnel wounds from a mortar shell that landed about 10 feet in front of him; and his experiences led to his suffering from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
After recovering from his wounds and leaving the military, the Jenkinses were living in Oregon when they decided to move to Ohio so they’d be closer to Amy’s parents, who live in Willoughby, and because they believe Ohio has better programs for Hunter.
When they applied for a home through the Military Warriors program, they asked that it be in Ohio.
Though the Jenkinses, who live in South Euclid, knew they were getting a home in Lordstown, they had never seen it before pulling into the driveway Wednesday.
They plan to be in their new home by August.
It is unfurnished, but it has new carpet throughout, new kitchen appliances and a new water heater, washer and dryer. A new two-tier deck leads to a fenced backyard.
“We’re very excited. Starting out with a mortgage-free home is awesome,” said Jenkins, who served in the Army from 2005 to 2009, and was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and 2007 as a member of the 69th Cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division.
During his Army career, he received numerous decorations including Combat Action Badge, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star and the Army Service Ribbon.
Jenkins said he wants to open a furniture-refurbishing business or open a Papa Murphy’s Take ’N’ Bake Pizza franchise.
Amy, 27, who has an associate degree in childhood psychology, quit work to take care of Hunter, who is nonverbal and last fall began having seizures.
“I like it. It is really nice,” Amy said of their new home. “I always wanted a refrigerator with an ice maker and a laundry room with a sink.”
Working through the Military Warriors Support Foundation and other nonprofit organizations is a way of giving back to our military heroes, said Gordon T. Raynor, first vice president for wealth management at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Canfield.
Raynor, who handed the keys to the home to the Jenkins family, said Bank of America has donated more than 1,000 homes to military veteran-support charities and other nonprofit, community-based organizations, including seven with the Military Warriors Support Foundation, and about 75 in Ohio.
The Military Warriors Support Fund helps locate deserving heroes for the program, said its representative, Courtney Hofer.
“Our mission is to serve the heroes who have served for us,” she said.