On a bright Tuesday morning, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Douglas Fisher and his wife, Jessica, carrying their 5-month-old daughter, Lilybeth, stepped through the front door of their new home in Mokena.
The house was a gift from Building Homes for Heroes, a nonprofit that provides and renovates mortgage-free homes for veterans, emergency first responders and their families.
“It’s definitely a new start. A home for my daughter to grow up in, finally,” Fisher said. “Renting someplace and moving place to place for the past two years, so we’ve been in four different homes, apartments.”
Fisher and his family are moving to Mokena from Washington state.
“Many of the veterans that we have have never owned a home,” said project manager Kimberly Crosby. “When we gift homes like this, it helps our veterans become more stable and gives them peace of mind that something is being provided that they haven’t necessarily experienced before.”
Housing represents crucial stability for veterans who might return home disabled, traumatized or otherwise adrift, Crosby said.
“Our veterans, they sacrifice things that we can’t even imagine,” Crosby said. “When they come home, they are often presented with, ‘Where do I live? How’s my family?'”
Fisher enlisted in the Navy in 2018, and completed multiple overseas deployments aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, including assisting in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, according to Building Homes for Heroes.
His time in the military left him with permanent physical and psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and he was medically discharged in 2024.
“This is so much more than a home for us,” Fisher said. “After serving in the Navy, going through medical retirement, and learning how to live with my disability, having a place to call home means more than I can fully explain.”
Fisher said that he was in touch with Building Homes for Heroes for about a year, having reached out to them for assistance, before getting the news about the house.
It was a major surprise, he said.
“You don’t hear anything, anything, and then suddenly here they are,” said Fisher, who said he still felt overwhelmed, but incredibly excited.
The house was provided by J.P. Morgan Chase, Crosby said, and renovated by Building Homes for Heroes in partnership with Lowe’s and other sponsors.
“Chase offers us opportunities to accept a home, so it is basically a gift from Chase,” Crosby said. “When we accept the home, we then renovate the home and then we find a veteran who suits the property.”
Building Homes for Heroes is on track to donate its 500th home around Christmas of this year, director of construction Rusty Smallwood said. The organization also provides other support to veterans, such as emergency funding and physical wellness programs.
Building Homes for Heroes was founded in the aftermath of 9/11 by New York businessman Andy Pujol, said Smallwood, who was involved in rescue efforts at Ground Zero.
“He didn’t know what he could do and had to do something,” Smallwood said. “He saw veterans coming home injured that didn’t get the services and get the support that they needed and deserved.”
Initially, Smallwood said, Pujol’s goal was just to build and donate one mortgage-free home, but the organization’s mission has grown over two decades. It now provides homes to veterans of all wars, Smallwood said, including veterans of World War II and the Vietnam War.
The Fishers were escorted to their new home by a procession including Mokena police and Patriot Guard Riders on motorcycles.
Ernie Shanders, a vice president at J.P. Morgan Chase, took the Fishers on a tour through their home before ceremonially presenting Fisher with a set of keys.
“I’m so grateful to be here, and to be able to help and participate in giving this home to you,” Shanders told Fisher. “Welcome home.”
Shanders said veterans’ issues are particularly important to him because he came from a military family.
“A lot of the veterans that we have come across in the past, some of them are homeless,” Shanders said. “They need housing and they need the financial support.”
Mokena Mayor George Metanias attended the ceremony and said he was honored and excited to have the Fishers in town.
“I think this is a wonderful thing that they’re doing. I’m lost for words, to be honest with you,” Metanias said. “I couldn’t be happier that it’s happening here in Mokena.”
Neighbors of the property on Wren Circle came out to welcome the Fishers, lining the street and waving U.S. flags as the family arrived.
“Mokena is a great town to raise a family in, to live. We’re a community that loves to give,” Metanias said. “I’m sure that Petty Officer Fisher is going to get all the support that he needs in Mokena, especially from me.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com
