Article posted: 4/28/2012 8:00 AM
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Susanne Tauke of New American Homes laughs with retired NFL lineman Marques Sullivan in front of an Antioch home called LIFEhouse, which will be donated to a wounded veteran. ?George LeClaire | Staff Photographer |
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Patrick Scanlon, construction foreman, cuts exterior side boards for LIFEhouse on Friday in Antioch. LIFEhouse will be donated to a wounded veteran who has not been selected yet. ?George LeClaire | Staff Photographer |
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Susanne Tauke, of New American Homes, center left, and construction workers pose with members of the Chicago NFL Players Association, including Reggie Smith, Marques Sullivan, Brian Glasgow, Jermaine Hampton and Mike Hoban in front of an Antioch home called LIFEhouse to be donated to a wounded veteran. ?George LeClaire | Staff Photographer |
Five former NFL players and volunteer developers were on hand Friday in Antioch to celebrate the construction progress of a home to be given to a disabled Iraq or Afghanistan war veteran.
Representatives from the Chicago chapter of the NFL Players Association were at the Newport Cove development as the home?s siding was completed, a milestone for construction as part of the LIFEhouse For a Hero project. The NFLPA is one of four main groups sponsoring the project.
An anonymous donor funding the construction will choose a veteran who will move in this August.
?This is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and we?re proud to help,? said chapter President Reggie Smith, a former offensive lineman who played six NFL seasons in the 1980s with Denver, Dallas and Tampa Bay. ?The veterans protected us all with their service, and now we have a chance to protect them with ours.?
The idea for the project sprouted last spring, after a family toured a Newport Cove model homes with ?universal design principles,? called the New American Homes? LIFEhouse, made to accommodate people with physical special needs.
?We wanted it to be comfortable and accessible without looking like a hospital,? said Susanne Tauke, president of New American Homes and developer of Newport Cove.
The family, described only as being from the East Coast and related to a wounded veteran, loved the design. They offered to put down more than $250,000 to build another such home at Newport Cove to be given to a wounded veteran of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Tauke donated land in the subdivision for construction and approached the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago seeking contributions from other member organizations to defray the homebuilding costs.
The builders association already had connections to the local NFLPA as partners in the Touchdown for Homes project, a nationwide charity that builds or renovates homes for families in need. More than 20 companies and groups stepped up to donate funds, materials and labor hours.
?It?s almost miraculous how this has all come together,? Tauke said.
Rita Unzner, services director of the builders association, said six to eight veterans have been identified as possible recipients. The home is expected to be completed by mid-July, and the veteran will move in Aug. 18.
?More projects like this are on the horizon,? Unzner said, adding an estimated 5,000 veterans in Chicago are homeless. ?We want the work to start snowballing so our veterans get the help they deserve.?
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