War-wounded soldiers returning to their homeland look forward to lots of love and support from their family and friends. After being exposed to months of the war field, they want some quality time at their home. And most of the times, their home requires a makeover to enhance their mobility around the house.
Lancaster High School students have taken up the initiative of renovating the home of Jerral Hancock, who returned from Iraq missing one arm. His other arm barely functions and his body is paralysed due to burns.
Hancock compared living in his mobile home to 'like being in prison.' The hallways of his tiny house were so narrow that he could barely get past it. At one instance, he couldn't visit the dentist to fix his teeth because the van that accommodates his wheelchair broke down. He got stuck at his home for several days and his teeth began rotting from the effects of the painkillers.
After learning about Hancock's crisis, Jamie Goodreau's history students decided to take up the project called 'Operation All The Way Home' of making his home handicapped accessible.
The charity work is something Goodreau's classes have been doing for years to help out veterans.
Describing her reasons to be part of Hancock's project, Nicole Skinner, a 17-year-old told the Post, "Just look at him, man. Many people these days are complaining about their lives and you look at him and what he's been through, and he's still smiling and all. He's not complaining," she says, "He's just so motivating."
Hancock is not just being supported by the students, others are also equally pitching in. Big box stores are offering building supplies for a discounted price, a construction contractor has agreed to volunteer, an architectural firm is providing the blueprints, a real estate agent waived off her commission, a credit union is providing all the financial support it requires and the inmates at the local prison are donating the proceeds from an art work sale.
"It's really just amazing," J.D. Kennedy, a local field representative for Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, told Washington Post.
