If you are a contractor in Massachusetts, your expertise and equipment are needed for a good cause. Homes for Our Troops, a non-profit organization that builds or adapts houses to meet the needs of veterans who were permanently injured in combat, is looking for someone who can remove stumps from a one-acre lot in Middleboro, Mass.
The organization is breaking ground on its first house — for Sgt. Peter Damon, his wife and three children — and hopes a contractor in the area will be willing to donate his or her services to the project. Damon lost both his hands in a military accident in Iraq. Land has been donated for his home, and the lot will be cleared the week of Thanksgiving. The lot needs to be stumped and the stumps taken away during the week of December 1. Other materials needed for the project include stone or gravel for the driveway, although the organization would like to have the driveway paved if a contractor could donate the equipment and labor.
In return for donated services, Homes for Our Troops will display the names and addresses of contractors on its website and provide a link to the contractors’ websites.
John Gonsalves III, a construction supervisor, founded Homes for Our Troops in February 2004 after he watched a local television news broadcast about Damon. The mission for the organization is much like that of Habitat for Humanity, except that it focuses on helping men and women who have served in the military and have become physically injured and/or handicapped because of their service. Projects for veterans in North Carolina and Arkansas are also underway. In addition to donations of equipment, labor and building materials, money is also needed. To find out more about donating or volunteering, click on the link to the right, or e-mail [email protected]. Financial donations can be sent to Homes for Our Troops, Inc., P.O. Box 615, Buzzards Bay, MA 02532.
