Wounded soldiers returning home from war zones face challenges with mundane tasks – entering narrow doorways, navigating steps and stairs, accessibility in kitchens and bathrooms, showering, and dressing. That’s where Homes for Our Troops, a 21-year-old national charity that provides customized houses equipped with freedom-restoring features, has stepped in.
And that’s where A.J. Foyt Enterprises team principal Larry Foyt stepped in Tuesday.
Fittingly, the NTT IndyCar Series organization announced on Veterans Day that team headliner Santino Ferrucci will drive the red, white, and blue No. 14 Chevy, carrying the banner for Homes For Our Troops at all 17 NTT races, with from Hendricks Commercial Properties/ Hendricks Holding Co./ ABC Supply. The iconic entry has used the patriotic livery at the past four Indianapolis 500, raising nearly $15 million for the cause with ABC Supply Co.’s $1 million annual matching pledge.
Ferrucci, who’ll begin his eighth season when the calendar opens in March at St. Petersburg, Fla., said of the Homes for Our Troops beneficiaries and veterans in general, “They’re amazing people. Without them we also wouldn’t have the freedoms we have today. This country wouldn’t be the same. They deserve everything that we can give them.
“Running this livery for a year, trying to raise as much money as we can, carrying a flag, we’re just trying to give back. So it’s a special cause. Honestly, it’s really special. My grandfather was a World War II vet. I spent a lot of time doing things and working around military personnel. So just being able to do these things with the veterans, meet the veterans, as well, at the racetrack. This year we got to take a bunch of veterans out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, take them around in a Suburban, get the Suburban up on two wheels. It is great, because they’re all adrenaline junkies, just like myself,” Ferrucci said. “Just spending time with them at the track, it’s just so special. Getting to meet their wives. Even their dogs, their kids, stuff like that. Just try and show them a different side of the sport.
“Over the last three 500s, carrying the livery, running the colors, Homes For Our Troops, it’s been amazing,” he said. “It’s hard to describe walking out race day and rolling that car onto the track to fire off. It’s very different. I can definitely say it’s a very different feeling going out for the 500 driving the 14 car than it is anything else. It’s really cool. I feel like everybody’s really behind us. All the people that come out to support us, all the money that we can raise for Homes For Our Troops, it’s special. To be able to carry it now for the season, kind of more of like a dream come true with America’s 250th.”
Brigadier General Tom Landwermeyer, president and CEO of Homes For Our Troops, said, “Our homes are single-story, about 2,800 square feet, four-bedroom, two-bath, energy-efficient. They have more than 40 adaptations designed in every single one them to restore that freedom and independence to the veteran. That frees up the spouse, the caregivers. We’ve built for veterans that have kids in their teens. Those children have never known anything but being a caregiver. That’s a different outlook on life. When you can take the bonds off of those kids and the other family members, the whole family thrives.”
So far, the Taunton, Massachusetts-headquartered operation has built and donate 424 homes across 45 states to the most severely injured post-9/11 veterans, and a current project at Casper, Wyoming, that will be finished in February will mark the 46th state where it has helped veterans. With another 68 projects under way across the country and 100 veterans in the application process of the program, the need still is strong.
Landwermeyer said the Veterans Administration has helped identify more than 1,800 veterans with these kinds of injuries—loss or loss of use of multiple limbs, blindness, different levels of paralysis, severe burns, traumatic brain injuries, or in many cases a combination of several of those—that would qualify for the program.
Homes For Our Troops finishes an average of about 25 homes per year, 100-percent courtesy of donations from the American public, with no state or federal money. But increased costs of materials and labor, Landwermeyer said, have “kind of kept us flat-lined at 25 homes per year. That’s what we’re really hoping this national-level awareness potential for this partnership this year may help us increase that, because these veterans really need these homes.”
Foyt said he was impressed by Home For Our Troops’ continued support once the families move into their new homes. “What’s also very cool about what they do, they don’t just hand the keys to these veterans and walk away. They continue to support them as the veterans learn about the finances of home ownership. That’s really a special part of the program.”
Landwermeyer said these veterans don’t simply represent numbers on a tote board.
“We do stay in touch with our veterans for life. We stay in contact with them really for three main reasons. One, we promised them a quality home. If there’s any issues with them, we’ll come back and fix it. Second, all those adaptations that are inside the home, we need the feedback from the veterans and the families that are physically living in those homes and experiencing the challenges to make sure we got everything right, new things out there that can help them out, something that needs to be adjusted a little bit,” he said. “We need that feedback.
“The most important reason we stay in contact with them is the rebuilding-lives aspect. These homes are not going to fix their injuries. These veterans have these injuries for a lifetime. They know it. They know the hand they’ve been dealt. They’re not grousing about it, looking in the rearview. They’re always focused forward. They will have some great days in these homes, and their families are going to accomplish some things. We want to be there to celebrate with them,” he said.
“But these veterans are also going to have some down days,” Landwermeyer ssaid. “There are going to be some days where they wind up in the wheelchair, in their bed, back in the hospital, needing some help. We’re going to be there helping them out.”
Rob Gerbitz, CEO and president of Hendricks Commercial Properties, said boss Diane Hendricks and daughter Konya Hendricks Schuh approached him and said they wanted the company “to jump into this lead” and that “it was just perfect for us. We could really get behind [it] as a company as a whole and really get people involved. This really gives us an opportunity to support Homes For Our Troops in a really meaningful way. Something that Diane and Konya have really pushed and instilled in me and everybody in our company is giving back. Our troops are No. 1. It’s perfect.”
Foyt and the team have been associated with ABC Supply and the Hendricks family since 2005, and Foyt said he’s “excited to get this beautiful livery on track.”
