National veterans nonprofit gifts custom to Army Sergeant Tyler Sloan, marking the nonprofit’s first build in the Coastal Bend area.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A national veterans nonprofit is gifting a new home to an Aransas Pass veteran.
Homes For Our Troops is a nonprofit that helps severely injured veterans rebuild their lives with a new house. Since 2004, they’ve build and donated 416 homes to veterans across 45 states.
Homes For Our Troops President and CEO Tom Landwermeyer said they build about 20 to 25 homes each year for veterans, who get to choose where they want to live. Each home is customized to meet their specific needs, something he said is key to restoring the freedom and independence they sacrificed while serving their country.
“What we do is not charity. It really is a moral obligation of our country to take care of these veterans and their families,” Landwermeyer said. “We’re just lucky enough to be the organization that gets to do that, and we promise we will take care of them.”
Landwermeyer said this will be the first home built in the Coastal Bend area which will be gifted to Army Sergeant Tyler Sloan.
Tyler comes from a long line of service members.
“My uncle served in Vietnam. My grandfather was Korea in World War 2 as a corpsman in the Navy, and then his father was World War 1, grandfather was Civil War,” Tyler said.
Following in his family’s legacy, he joined the Army but in 2006, an injury changed his life.
“We were doing dismounted patrols and we took sniper fire and he happened to hit me in the lower stomach and the shooter was elevated, so it went down, took out a lot of my innards, blew up my hip, femoral artery went out, I bled out in Iraq and I woke up at Walter Reed five days later,” Sloan said.
Tyler spent two years in recovery. His wife, Ashley, met him after his injury and said he never let it slow him down.
But as he has gotten older, it has gotten harder. Still, she hopes the new home will make things easier.
“Tyler will be able to move around with a little more freedom if he’s in his wheelchair, he won’t have to worry about staying in just one room of the house. He’ll have a rolling shower, which is nice because right now he has to lift himself up over a tub to get in and shower,” Ashley said.
Landwermeyer is a an Army Veteran himself. He said he understands what other veterans go through and a new home will change their lives for the better.
“It will really free up the spouse, or caregiver, the kids not to have to help Tyler do things the day-to-day things in a normal home, he has a challenge doing for himself, so it will actually free up, Ashley and the kids to live a normal life and allow Tyler to feel more like he’s a true husband and father in his own home,” Landwermeyer said.
Tyler and Ashley’s children are also very excited for a new home, where they plan to create new memories.
“I think they’re probably gonna be most excited about dad having more freedom and right now they kind of go first for dad because if he’s sitting on the couch and can’t put on a leg, you know, it’s one of us three that has to go get this, can you get me a water, stuff like that,” Ashley said. “So I think they’re really looking forward to like having their own kind of freedom that this house will provide.”
For Tyler, this house marks a new chapter in his life.
“My wheelchair is gonna fit through all the doors, the shower, I can get in and out instead of trying to transfer and worry about slipping and falling, countertop levels, everything’s roll-under so it’s gonna be life-changing for me,” Tyler said.
Landwermeyer said construction on the new home will begin soon after the Sloan family meets with the decorator to finalize the features. The keys are expected to be handed over early next year.
For more information on the nonprofit, click here.
More from 3NEWS on KIIITV.com:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for your daily news and exclusive extended interviews.
Do you have a news tip? Tell 3!
Email tell3@kiiitv.com so we can get in touch with you about your story should we have questions or need more information. We realize some stories are sensitive in nature. Let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous.