Adopt-A-Soldier now

Wounded Soldier Projects  

There are many soldiers that have been injured and returned home. They are needing many different things since they have returned home. First and foremost they need money as well as letters and packages. We are working to build homes for the many wounded soldiers that are returning home that have no where to return to.

1) Kyle and Kristi Burleson - We have completed helping to build a home in Springhill, LA for Kyle and his family. Kyle was a top gunner on a humvee when he took a bullet in his jaw that exited through his neck severing his spinal cord. He is a C2 quadriplegic with a 21 year-old wife, a 3 year-old girl, and an 18-month-old son. Kyle was discharged last year from the Dallas VA to return to his mother’s 100 year-old frame house in rural Northern Louisiana where he was to be confined to living in a 16 by 16’ room the rest of his life.
We helped raise over $300,000 with the great help of Rosanne Swacker of Dallas, John Gonsalves of HomesForOurTroops.org, Ed and Judy Huss of Chicago, Matt Dillon of New York, Ken Koval & Bob Simpson of Bossier City, LA & other wonderful volunteers and contributors to build The Burlesons a new handicapped accessible home in Springhill, LA. Our project for Kyle Burleson was finished in November, 2006 and aired on “NBC Nightly News” 11/14/2006.

2) Tommy and Bobbie Guinn of Overton, TX - We are creating a team to build a home for, who is a paraplegic injured in Pakistan doing earthquake relief work for the US Army and America in March 2006. They are in desperate need of a home. Staff Sergeant Tommy Guinn was knocked off the top of his Chinook helicopter by a sudden rotating blade, falling 20 feet to concrete, landing on his head, and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He and his family are in desperate need of a handicapped accessible home.
Currently Tommy, his wife, Bobby, and their children, Dakota and Dusty are living with his aunt and uncle in Overton, Texas. The Guinns told us to make the Westbrook Family a priority over them since the Westbrook situation was so dire. Now it is time to build the Guinns their own handicap accessible home.

If you would like to help the Guinns in their time of immediate need, contact Janet Langkop at adoptasoldiernow@mac.com or 1-877-456-HERO (4376) or Coke Buchanan at coke22@tx.rr.com 214-912-0200 or Greg Smith: brandrider1@yahoo.com or 903-556-2070

3) Gene, Peggy & James Westbrook - Retired Sgt. Gene Westbrook of Lawton, Oklahoma is a triplegic injured from a mortar round in Iraq in 2004. On June 10th, 2006 they had an automobile accident where the left front wheel of their new handicapped van fell off, sideswiping an oncoming car, then careening the van over a bridge culvert with a 20 foot drop off, throwing Gene through the windshield, injuring his wife and daughter, and leaving his 9-year-old son, James, paralyzed from the waist down and needing a colostomy. Now the Westbrooks are a two wheelchair family.  Peggy has recovered fully. Daughter, Katie, had a kidney removed. James received the best of attention and care at The Children’s Center in Bethany, OK, and is now back home in Lawton going to school. Gene is back home recovering from his head injuries and a stroke he suffered while in ICU just after the accident. Peggy is Superwoman caring for her daughters, paraplegic son and triplegic husband.  They needed a new house built to accommodate both father and son in wheelchairs with two handicap accessible bathrooms.
We submitted our DVD of “The Westbrook Crisis” to ABC’s Extreme Makeover - Home Edition, which gets 5000 applications a week. They picked up the story. We have just returned from Lawton, OK, where Extreme Makeover - Home Edition just completed the filming of an amazing 106 hour build of the Westbrook’s new 5000 square foot home, handicap accessible for both father and son, Gene and James.

The episode aired nationally on ABC, Sunday night, April 22, 2007 @ 7 PM CST.

Take a tour of the Westbrook’s new home by clicking on the icon below

4) Frank Fields, Jr. of Chapel Hill, Texas - On November 21, 2006, Specialist Frank Fields, Jr. was driving his humvee on a patrol mission in Baghdad 4:00 AM when an armor piercing device exploded beneath the engine creating a fireball surrounding him burning his face and severing both his legs below the hip.
Frank is currently at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas in while his wounds are still healing. After that he will undergo rehabilitation there and be fitted with two new prosthetic legs. Frank should be released in the Spring of 2007. He will need his father’s house renovated to be handicap accessible for Frank to be able to move around it easily.
Frank is a dynamic young man with amazing wisdom and insight into life. He plans on becoming a motivational speaker sharing how we all can overcome our perceived limitations.

5) Keith and Nicki Mitchell of Buffalo, New York - (Story forthcoming)