Prominent Orlando Attorney Dan Newlin has represented hundreds of veterans, mostly in injury-related claims, but recently, he threw his support behind Home At Last, a special project of West Orange Habitat for Humanity.
Founded in 2007 by William C. Criswell, Home At Last aims to present at least one mortgage-free, special needs home every year, to a veteran who has been permanently disabled in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.
And, Home At Last is just the kind of deserving project Newlin, always in search of a worthy cause, wants to contribute to. He gets sombre, quietly reflective, when speaking of U.S. veterans who have been severely wounded and return home with very few support systems in place.
“The men and women who sign up to serve in our military take huge risks, in their personal lives, so that we can live a very free and superb life here in the United States,” said Newlin. “Anyone that takes such risks and sustains serious catastrophic injury as a result of their own personal desire to provide us freedom, deserves the attention of all of us, especially those who own businesses.”
The challenges for returning veterans are many and varied and, in particular, special housing needs loom large among those who are permanently disabled. Moreover, federal, state and local governments provide inadequate support to help veterans transition from military service to the civilian work force.
Criswell, a World War II veteran said, he was troubled by the lack of special needs housing for the “tremendous number of veterans returning with serious permanent disabilities around 2007.” He was so concerned that he approached West Orange Habitat for Humanity which assists in building homes for deserving people and pitched his idea of mortgage-free, accessible homes for combat wounded disabled vets.
“The Board of Directors of Habitat readily agreed and the first home was built in 2008,” he said.
To date, Home At Last has presented four homes to veterans and their families, with a fifth under construction.
Criswell said, the homes are completed entirely by donations and in-kind contributions of construction labor and materials. He responds cautiously as to whether Home At Last can build more than one home a year, as much depends on fundraising. But, future plans of Home At Last will be the subject of discussion among its major stakeholders next month, he said.
“We concentrate on the family, on a vet with a family and are determined that homes will be turned over without a mortgage,” Criswell added.
One veteran who knows what that’s like is U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jeffery Kelly, who served eleven-and-a half years, including two tours in Iraq, before being injured by a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and mortar fire, nearly five years ago.
Kelly, who returned home in 2008, with a severely injured leg, in extreme chronic pain and a brain injury said, it was a challenge at first. He had to figure out how to deal with his medical issues, how to get around and dealing with daily life, generally.
Then, Home At Last stepped in and Kelly, his wife Michelle, and their two young daughters, Jade and Lindsey, received the keys to their new home in 2011.
“Its been absolutely amazing and like a dream come true,” he said of his new digs in Oakland. “It has taken a huge stress off of the family, just knowing that we have a place to live and a home in which I can get around and we can grow.”
While Kelly is largely confined to a wheel chair and could only walk short distances with the aid of a cane, he won’t change a thing, he says.
“As I look back on everything, my years of service and think about how I have grown, I have loved every minute of it,” a smiling Kelly said. “I would do it again if I could.”
And perhaps this is what motivates Newlin, who laments the modest support for returning vets, “many of whom have given their legs, their arms and in some instances their eyesight, in combat.”
“There is nothing better that we can do as a community and society to provide support for our returning veterans,” he said. “Home At Last is a wonderful organization and quite frankly, it is a great honor for me to support this project.”
The Law Offices of Dan Newlin & Partners, located at 7335 W. Sand Lake Road in Orlando, plan on expanding their services, in order to assist more veterans in the future.
