A local homebuilding company is doing its part to ensure a wounded warrior and his or her family will have a home suited to their needs.
According to David Hagan, director of sales and marketing for Lamar Smith Signature Homes, the company recently founded Operation Hero House — a project that will provide a mortgage-free home to a wounded warrior.
“These men and women have given so much, and we’ve been blessed,” Hagan said. “So many men and women are coming home from war, and because of their new challenges and their new disabilities, they don’t have a home to come home to. It’s what we do — and who better to give a house?”
The recipient, location and design of the home are yet to be determined, Hagan said. A selection committee not associated with Lamar Smith Signature Homes is working on selecting a wounded veteran, he added. The committee, made up of community and military leaders, is expected to make a selection within the next 60 days.
“As soon as they find the recipient of the home, then we’ll build the home around that individual, and we’re looking at breaking ground on or around the Fourth of July — just because that’s a great time to do something like this,” Hagan said.
A team from Lamar Smith Signature Homes came up with the idea for Operation Hero House during a recent annual retreat. After searching other organizations for similar projects, Hagan said the company decided to start their own.
Hagan said the company for years has donated a percentage of each home they sell to various organizations, such as YMCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Student Life Ministry and others.
“We decided that in 2013, because we’ve been so blessed, that we really wanted to up the ante,” he said. “We decided we wanted to build a house for a wounded warrior free of charge, pull the community together, pull our vendors and trade partners together and see if we could build a house.”

Read more in the March 2 edition of the News.