There was a bit of excitement in Glasgow Monday afternoon as a small crowd gathered at 427 Shawnee St. to witness a special delivery – a house for a homeless veteran.
“It’s certainly nice to have a place for the veteran, and that’s what it’s all about,” said Glasgow Mayor Paul Williams, who was among those who came out to watch the house be placed on its foundation. “It’s certainly good that we’re able to provide the lots, because we have some [empty] lots. We’ll certainly cooperate with them as best we can to put a couple more up if they can do it, because I think this a pretty good thing.”
The 480-square-foot modular home arrived in Glasgow around 4 p.m. Monday, escorted by several members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association Virginia Chapter 27-11 from Lynchburg. It was resting on its foundation just over an hour later. It’s one of several such homes that Purple Heart Homes – a national non-profit that provides housing assistance to veterans – has built over the years, but this one was special in several ways.
Most notably, the house was constructed on the National - Mall in Washington, D.C., in connection with the nation’s 250th celebrations, which is a first for any home, let alone one from Purple Heart Homes. Construction took place over last week, with a number of representatives from various partner organizations working in shifts to get the house put together. Things wrapped up at 8:30 Sunday night in time to transport the house to Glasgow on Monday.
“It was pretty unbelievable,” Mike Lennon, board chairman for Purple Heart Homes, told The News-Gazette. “I was there Monday and Tuesday [and] I had the opportunity to do a little thank you speech to an audience. Not many Americans get to de- liver a speech on the National Mall. So that was pretty cool for me. … It was just very special. I don’t know how to describe it.”
A Rockbridge County resident himself, Lennon, a Marine Corps veteran, said he got involved with Purple Heart Homes after learning of its mission to provide housing support for veterans and thinking of his own father, who was also a Marine and was wounded in combat.
“Nobody ever did anything to help my dad,” he said. “So when I met these guys in 2009 and learned that they were helping veterans of all generations, that just touched my heart. I said I’ve got to be involved with this group.”
Lennon noted that the journey to get the house to Glasgow took three years to complete. As part of that process, plans were approved by Virginia state inspectors and a prototype of the house was built in stages in the 75,000-square-foot construction facility Purple Heart Homes owns in Statesville, N.C., with independent inspectors checking things during each step of the process. That prototype house is also slated to come to Glasgow, though a location in town hasn’t been selected yet.
“There’s a lot of need,” said Jay Thompson, one of the co-presidents of the recently formed Rockbridge County chapter of Purple Heart Homes. “Glasgow has a lot of vacant lots, so something new like that can only help raise the profile. And it’s a beautiful area, too.”
Thompson noted that, while the house was being built last week in Washington, D.C., work was being done locally to get the property ready for it – including building the foundation the house now rests on and removing a tree that was dead inside and standing about 10 feet from where the house is now.
While the national organization works to provide homes for veterans across the country in need, local chapters like the one Thompson helps lead are primarily focused on smaller projects to help veterans age in place. Another chapter based in Lynchburg has worked on several projects in the area to that end, including building a deck for another Glasgow resident, Desert Storm veteran Norman Claytor.
The lots where the house now resides were donated by Baldwin Locher Jr. and his son, Baldwin Locher III, who also own other lots in town that are being eyed as potential sites for the prototype house.
“It’s one of those things that you watch and you see empty lots for so long, and it’s really nice for them to take shape into a house that someone can live in,” Baldwin Locher III told The News-Gazette. “My dad grew up in Glasgow and has always had a place in his heart for this area, and to give back like this, I know it means a lot to him. And it means a lot to me too just to be able to see, not only a veteran, but someone in need be able to find a place to call home.”
The house that arrived this week was built for Jim Taylor, a 76-year-old Marine Corps veteran who currently lives in transitional housing provided by Fifth Street Ministries in Statesville, N.C. Some more work still needs to be done on the house before he can move in, including hooking up the utilities and building a front porch to help bring it into compliance with Glasgow’s ordinances, but a ceremony is being planned for Veterans Day to formally deliver ownership to Taylor.
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IN CONJUNCTION with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, construction of the house took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., over the course of a week, making this home the first to be built in that location. ABOVE, workers organize the lumber pieces for the house on the National Mall ahead of construction. AT LEFT, James “Jim” Taylor, the 76-yearold Marine Corps veteran who will officially receive the house in November, got to see the house being built. (photos courtesy of Purple Heart Homes)
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