High-school students build mortgage-free homes for injured veterans

America’s youth are paying their debt to America’s heroes.

National nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes (BHH) builds, flips, and gifts mortgage-free homes to injured veterans, first responders, and Gold Star families (those who lost a U.S. military service member in the line of duty).

The New York-based organization recently met with local high school students from The Villages Charter School (TVCS) Construction Management Academy in Florida.

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In May, BHH opened two new homes for veterans in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida, gifted to U.S. Army Specialist Rajae Jones and U.S. Army Sergeant James Tabares and their families.

The houses were built from scratch by TVCS students in partnership with BHH; This required them to do hands-on work, learn a new trade, and contribute to their communities.

Kim Vesey, president and general counsel of BHH President, spoke about recent projects and partnership with TVCS.

“This is truly a phenomenal program and we are so lucky to be able to partner with them,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

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Together, the organization and the student program are building several homes for veterans with a family that is “really struggling” starting in 2024, Vesey said.

The family was reportedly living in temporary housing while the husband was struggling with a military injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, making it difficult to keep his job.

“They found themselves in this endless cycle of struggle,” Vesey said. “They had two young sons and they were trying really hard.”

The family was gifted the first house built by TVCS students and BHH. Both sons now work at the school, and the veteran runs a program at the Autism School.

“Society should always lend a helping hand to those who have served and need help.”

“I really can’t say enough great things about the opportunity the school provides these students,” Vesey said. “Not just going into a classroom and learning a trade, but also giving back to their community, changing people’s lives and seeing that firsthand… being able to make that kind of impact on the world and realizing that what you do matters — I can’t imagine how helpful that is.”

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Blake Tart, an 18-year-old recent TVCS graduate, shared his experience in a separate interview with Fox News Digital.

“My experience of Building Houses for Heroes was so beautiful, seeing the project grow from a spot of sand to a finished and decorated house,” he said. “I will take the hard work and lessons I have learned with me into my next career path, and the most valuable lesson is that I will be able to work on all of this myself in my own home one day.”

Tart, who comes from a family of veterans, said he and his classmates come every day and “do the best we can” to help veterans get home.

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“We never settled for good enough; we wanted it to be perfect,” he said. “Society should always lend a helping hand to those who have served and need help.”

BHH has a presence in 37 U.S. states, but Florida has seen the highest demand for housing among veterans, according to Vesey. He emphasized the importance of people having a broader understanding of why veterans may need extra help.

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“People don’t intentionally find themselves in situations where they can’t provide for their families,” Vesey said. “Each of us is just a few paychecks away from being in a situation where we cannot provide for our families.”

U.S. Army Sergeant James Tabares and his wife pose in front of their new home, built by students from The Villages Charter School’s Construction Management Academy and Building Homes for Heroes. (Building Houses for Heroes)

“Our veterans enlist in the military to serve their country for many different reasons, and many go into it thinking this will be a full-time career, as if you were a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor… and this is your retirement, this is your savings, this is everything you need to provide for your family,” he continued.

“So if you go into the military thinking you’re going to spend 30 years on this career and it gets cut short because you get injured, that’s a high risk.”

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Many veterans who leave the military after an injury don’t have a stable place to live, a college degree or a reserve career.

“You haven’t put down roots because you’ve served your country for 10 years… There are no plans to come back,” Vesey said. “When people go into this high-risk career and that career is cut short to serve our country through no fault of their own, I think it’s very important that our country is there to serve them.”