It’s a Herculean task that a group of volunteers will complete in a little less than two weeks.
Volunteers with A Soldier’s Journey Home started construction on a fully-accessible, mortgage-free home in Evans for Retired Army Sgt. First Class David Mathis on May 19. The organization plans to turn it over to him and his wife, Angela, in a May 31 ribbon cutting ceremony.
“They call it choreographed chaos. I don’t think it’s chaos because everyone knows what they’re doing, but they somehow manage to get everything done and move around each other without stepping on one another,” said Sharon Holland, spokesperson for A Soldier’s Journey Home.
About 120 volunteers from 20 different states are expected to lend their expertise during the construction. Some take their two weeks of vacation just to be part of the project, she said.
This is the 11th house that A Soldier’s Journey Home has built. The organization does one build a year. Other homes are in Ohio, Maine, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois and Texas.
Mathis, who served in both the Army and Marine Corps, lost both legs in an IED explosion during his 2017 deployment to Iraq. The Johnston, South Carolina native was deployed six times and medically retired in 2019.
The 2,500-square-foot home features an open concept floor plan with a spacious living room, dining room and kitchen in its center. There’s also a roll-in shower to give Mathis easier access.
Holland said Angela Mathis wanted a space that was “country in the city,” and a lot off Hereford Farm Road, overlooking a pond, fit that description.
The couple had the opportunity to visit early on in the project, but Holland said once the sheet rock went up inside, there was no more peeking until after it was completed.
Not only is a hero on the receiving end of the home, but heroes are building it.
“A Soldier’s Journey Home was born in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, as a way for a group of New York firefighters to give back for the support they had received from around the country in the wake of the attacks. They began by supporting a variety of disaster relief construction projects, were eventually joined by other firefighters from around the country, and have now devoted more than a decade to building mortgage-free homes specially adapted for veterans with disabilities,” according to the organization’s website.
Firefighters and first responders from other states are joining in the project.
A Soldier’s Journey Home partners with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, another organization born out of Sept. 11, 2001, which has raised more than $1 billion to build 1,500 homes. Tunnel to Towers’ fundraisers have been held at Augusta University for several years.
James Mills, a retired New York firefighter, brought his carpentry skills to the Mathis home build.
He said he honed his construction skills while serving in the department. It was common for firefighters to help each other out; if one needed a new roof, they’d band together and 20 of them could get it done quickly.
“At the firehouse, you solve your own problems,” he said.
Helping a combat veteran came easily to Mills.
“What that man sacrificed, I’ve never been asked to do,” said Mills.
Mills, however, has done his own heroic deeds. He received the James Gordon Bennett Medal, the FDNY’s top distinction, in 2003, after risking his life to crawl 80 feet in a smoke and obstacle-filled basement to rescue a fellow firefighter and drag him to safety, according to an article in the New York Daily News.
Now that he’s retired, Mills, who learned of A Soldier’s Journey Home, through his connection with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, has already worked on three similar projects this year.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s a Georgia Press Association winner and the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
