H-E-B launches veteran appreciation program

The Brown Family

Nicholas Brown, who enlisted in the military after the 9/11 attacks and has served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, received one of the first two houses. He and his family, who are living in Fort Campbell, Ken., will move into their new home in San Antonio in late July.

"It was an incredible amount of stress and worry that had been lifted off our shoulders," Brown said.

The medical attention he has required since his last tour of duty has put the family under stress, he said. That stress, combined with the family's constant moving from base to base, made the house, which the Browns will live in permanently, that much more meaningful.

"I'm being transferred [to San Antonio] so I can finish out my medical care, finish out my evaluation, and I can just retire to my house," Brown said.

Brown said the work of Operation Finally Home had changed his life and his daughter's lives, but there is work that needs to be done. The federal government has "failed a lot of veterans," Brown said.

"This goes all the way back to Vietnam veterans," Brown said. "The unemployment rate is skyrocketing, suicide rates–I can't talk about the other forces—but in the Army last year it was one per day. They had more suicides than combat-related deaths in Afghanistan. The Army is trying to play catch-up."

Operation Appreciation

Leslie Sweet, H-E-B director of public affairs, said the company, which has more than 300 grocery stores throughout Texas, decided to begin reexamining its focus on veterans in 2011.

This year the company has started giving away homes and plans to continue that through next year.

"[Veterans] have volunteered to give everything to protect the citizens of the United States and the freedoms we enjoy, and we feel that all of us should take time to say 'thank you' and show them the respect they deserve," Sweet said.

Since upping its focus on veterans, H-E-B discovered that nearly 2,000 of its employees had served in the armed forces. Those employees were given special H-E-B shirts to signify their service and were honored at events on Memorial Day and July 4.

Vargas said the partnership with H-E-B allows Operation Finally Home to continue expanding its work. Between 2005 and 2009, Operation Finally Home built one new home each year. Since 2009, when Vargas took on a full-time position with the organization, the organization has built 31 more homes for veterans and their families.

"With H-E-B's help, we can get more corporations to step on board and give a little," Vargas said. "We can put it all together and make a home."

'A generation of lives'

Five more houses will be built in H-E-B's five major markets, which include San Antonio, Central Texas, Houston, the Rio Grande Valley and the Texas-Mexico border. Construction on the homes will most likely begin in 2014, Sweet said.

H-E-B shoppers will have the opportunity to participate in the programs by purchasing one of the grocer's military-themed reusable bags or donating through the company's tear-pad campaign, which gives shoppers the option of adding a $1, $3 or $5 donation to Operation Finally Home at checkout counters.

"There is so much more to us getting this house and everything Operation Finally Home does," Brown said. "It's an incredible foundation, there is no question about it. They changed a generation of lives. But on the whole, the veteran issue is swamped by the talking points of the politics and politicians who are more interested in getting re-elected than actually trying to fix problems."