Home For Our Troops

CertaPro Painters of North San Diego believes in giving back to our community and in supporting those who support us not only here, but abroad as well. As part of a nationwide program between CertaPro Painters and Homes For Our Troops, we’ve teamed up to help support quite a few local projects, including Cpl Carlos Torres, who served in the United States Marine Corps. We’ll introduce you to a couple of these heroes in a few moments. First, let’s talk about Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) helps out disabled veterans and helps get them started in rebuilding their lives.

HFOT assists severely injured veterans and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials, and professional labor in order to coordinate the process of building a specially adapted home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently. The non-profit organization was founded in 2004 and as of February 17, 2015, they have built 181 specially adapted homes nationwide. Currently, they hav 46 Veterans on their active project list, including Cpl Torres. The homes that are built are provided mortgage-free to the Veterans they serve. Their goal is to build a home for every Veteran who qualifies for one of these specially adapted homes.

Keep in mind that the average cost to construct a specially adapted home nationwide runs $430,000. HFOT is completely privately funded, receiving no assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other government organization. Nearly 70 percent of their operational budget is generated by individual donors (like you!) and community fundraisers nationwide.

HFOT-built homes can serve as a departure point for these Veterans to rebuild their lives, and once again become highly productive members of society. Despite their life-altering injuries, many of these Veterans have embarked on new careers, completed their college degrees, or started families. Empowered by the freedom a mortgage-free and specially adapted home brings, our Veterans can now focus on their recovery and returning to their life’s work of serving others.

This is why CertaPro Painters of North San Diego is pleased to serve this wonderful organization and encourage all to donate to a very meaningful and life changing cause. You can donate directly by going to Homes For Our Troops online.

On July 3, 2011, Marine Corporal Carlos Torres suffered the traumatic amputation of both legs and extensive damage to his left elbow when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.Cpl Torres had spoken to his mother only the night before, telling her that he was fine and would be home in a few weeks.

On February 7, 2015, we were proud to be a part of the groundbreaking ceremony for Cpl Torres’ new home.

Cpl Torres is looking forward to living in a specially adapted home with his mother, brother and sister. He also plans to do a lot more cooking since he will have a fully accessible kitchen where he can experiment.

“Receiving help from Homes for Our Troops is going to be a blessing and will allow for better living conditions,” he says. “Thank you for the freedom this home represents.” 

Army SGT David Mayer was on his second deployment when he lost both of his legs when the convoy he was riding in was attacked in Al-Hillah, Iraq on March 14, 2008. He is another hero whose Homes for Our Troops project in which we were proud to participate. When asked how living in a specially adapted home built by Homes for Our Troops would change his life SPC Mayer stated,

“This home will stabilize me so that I can go to school and work and get on with my life. One of my biggest worries has been trying to locate accessible housing and Homes for Our Troops is taking that worry away. Thank you for doing this… it changes lives and it helps injured service members cope when they see that there are people who care.”