Tory Honda wiped away tears as Windsor Village President Bob Wipperfurth thanked him for his service in the U.S. Army during a ceremony he won’t soon forget.
Thursday morning, Honda, 37, his wife and two children were taken out to breakfast in Sun Prairie by a representative of the Texas-based Operation Finally Home, then given a police escort to the home being built for them mortgage-free in the housing development Bear Tree Farms.
A group of about 50 people was waiting to show Honda their appreciation, complete with a red carpet rolled from the house’s attached garage to the street. About a dozen first responders stayed for the ceremony, during which the American flag waved from a firetruck ladder as the National Anthem was sung.
Honda only knew that he was a candidate through Operation Finally Home to get a house from Tim O’Brien Homes, which builds single-family homes in Madison and Milwaukee.
“I’m very uncomfortable, I’m not going to lie,” Honda said at first, later telling a reporter he was “happy, blessed, amazed and surprised,” by the unexpected gift.
“It’s a complete and total shock to me. I was not expecting this one bit,” Honda said after he, his wife, Marisela, and their children, Anthony, 10, and Lilly, 9, walked through the framework of the house, still under construction.
“I’m just overwhelmed and overjoyed,” Honda said before thanking everyone involved.
Operation Finally Home, a nonprofit with a mission of seeking out deserving veterans and giving them homes, was founded in 2005, the same year Honda enlisted.
Honda was sent to the Middle East about a year and a half later, and deployed three times to Iraq and two times to Afghanistan.
In the early morning of Oct. 1, 2009, Honda and some fellow soldiers were ambushed in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.
“They put the bombs in the road, but I got lucky,” he said. “There’s people who aren’t here now that aren’t so lucky. It’s to them that I owe everything.”
One soldier died from the bombing, and Honda said his squad leader is still recovering after losing half his skull. “He will never be the same again.”
Honda had to have a leg amputated from the knee down and used a wheelchair until he got a prosthetic leg. He also suffers from PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and chronic pain.
Molly Halliday, senior vice president of marketing for Operation Finally Home, said Honda’s story put his family on her organization’s radar.
“They’ve just been struggling and trying to figure out how to make ends meet,” she said. “Thank God that Tim O’Brien Homes raised their hands and they love this family as much as we did.”
Before the Honda family arrived, employees from Tim O’Brien Homes, neighbors, and members of the community wrote notes of support and encouragement to the Hondas on the home’s wooden studs and on Post-It notes stapled to the studs.
“Thank you for your service!” Heather Treinen, 46, wrote in Sharpie on the wood. “May your home be blessed with lots of love and laughter for many, many years!”
Treinen, a program coordinator for DeForest’s Blessings in a Backpack, a program that provides food for kids in need on weekends, said she was unaware of Operation Finally Home and came early to be a part of the celebration. “I think it’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “I was excited to come and witness the reveal to the family and see their joy.”
Spread on a table inside the unfinished home were dozens of hearts with messages written inside. “Welcome and congrats! I’m your backyard neighbor with the curtains on the red condo porch. Look forward to meeting you,” read one heart signed by Mary Karsten.
Karsten, 54, who has lived in her condo since October, and works for a company that manages health and pension funds, was told about the event by a friend. “It’s amazing,” she said, fanning her eyes with her mittens as she got choked up. “Our veterans deserve to be taken care of. It’s cool they make a big deal out if it. Hopefully others will continue and donate.”
One note, written in cursive, came from Walter Andrews of Cortland, New York, who said, “I was in 3 wars and I know how you feel. WWII, Korea, Indo China War. I’m 91 years old and glad it’s over. “
Erin Sipe and Heather Terrill Stotts, teachers and instructional coaches at Harvest Intermediate School about a mile away in DeForest, brought notes from almost 300 sixth graders.
“We talk about and practice empathy as much as we can,” Stotts said, “and this was an opportunity to do it right in our community.”
O’Brien, whose Tim O’Brien Homes is based in Pewaukee, founded the company in 2007 and started building homes in Madison in 2012.
In 2015, he said, his company built a home for a veteran through Operation Finally Home in the village of Jackson in the Milwaukee area.
Danny Lowery, O’Brien division president, said he was contacted 14 months ago by Operation Finally Home and told of the Honda family’s needs. He said Operation Finally Home does 20% of the fundraising and the other 80% falls to the builder and includes in-kind donations from subcontractors and partners in the building trades.
The Honda family currently lives in Melrose Park, Illinois, a suburb 14 miles west of Chicago. Marisela said they’ve driven through Madison but haven’t visited. Windsor will be a good fit, she said, noting that crime where they live has been going up.
“We’re at peace. We feel safe,” she said. “This is good.”
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