The Tunnel to Towers Foundation recently announced that it had delivered a mortgage-free smart home to an Army veteran in Richmond, Virginia ahead of Veterans Day this year.
U.S. Army Veteran Captain James Howard was welcomed into his new mortgage-free smart home with his wife, Amanda, and son, Luke, on November 10th.
Today Tunnel to Towers welcomes home @USARMY Vet. Capt. James Howard to his new smart home in VA. Thanks to your generosity, we can provide #hero Capt. Howard with a custom mortgage-free smart home built specifically to his needs that helps him live more independently. 🇺🇸❤️ #T2T pic.twitter.com/WbWQ4FHof0
— Tunnel to Towers Foundation (@Tunnel2Towers) November 10, 2022
With Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s Smart Home Program, the most catastrophically injured veterans and first responders can regain their independence by living in specially adapted smart homes built by the organization.
In 2010, Capt. Howard had to medically retire due to multiple injuries he sustained throughout his eight years in the Army, leaving him a C5 quadriplegic wheelchair user with no hand function, no leg function, and paralyzed from the chest down.
“It’s the most gracious gift my family can receive. To know that I can spend the rest of my life in this home, and that it will be in my family forever,” Captain Howard said in a statement.
Howard is a third-generation soldier, with members of his family serving America from WWII through the Global War on Terror, according to Tunnel to Towers. Howard graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 2002 and served in Iraq and completed Ranger, Sapper, Jumpmaster, and Special Forces courses.
In his retirement, Howard has started two all-volunteer nonprofits that assist veterans and children with disabilities. Veterans and Athletes United (VAU) has supported over 6,000 veterans since 2013 through accessible retreats and adaptive sports programs while REACHcycles has provided over 1,000 specially adapted bikes to children with disabilities.
Howard has also designed and coordinated the effort to build the VAU traveling Global War on Terror Memorial Flag, which is made up of more than 7,000 dog tags inscribed with the names of those killed in the War on Terror.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has set a goal to reach 1,000 mortgage-free homes delivered across the country to America’s military and first responders by the end of the year.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “James Howard” by Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Background Photo “House” by Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
