Honoring Veterans Day: 15 Years of Delivering Critical Housing Solutions

Throughout National Veterans and Military Families Month, The Home Depot Foundation is highlighting 15 years of sustained impact alongside our veteran housing partners. A safe, accessible home is vital to long-term stability, yet many veterans navigating service-connected injuries or unforeseen emergency repairs often face limited financial options.

Kicking off our month-long series, these two case studies examine how sustained support delivered life-changing housing solutions for Marine Corps veterans through our partnerships with Operation Homefront and Semper Fi & America's Fund.

Regaining Independence After Recovery

With The Home Depot Foundation's support, Semper Fi & America's Fund provides accessible home upgrades for a Marine.

Practical quality-of-life improvements can make all the difference in a veteran's recovery. For United States Marine Corps veteran Josh Bleill, dedicated support from Semper Fi & America's Fund and The Home Depot Foundation helped him gain independence and stability.

Coming from a family with a long history of service, Josh decided to join the Marines after September 11, 2001. In 2006, during a combat tour in Fallujah, he was severely injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his Humvee.

When Semper Fi & America's Fund learned about Josh's situation, they moved quickly. Josh suffered major damage to multiple parts of his body, resulting in the replacement of his legs with prosthetics, and was looking at years of surgeries and rehabilitation. When he was flown to Bethesda, Maryland, for medical treatment, the organization arranged travel and overnight accommodations for his relatives.

His caseworker, Lisa, met him at the hospital to ensure he had all the support he and his family needed. That introduction grew into a decades-long friendship, as Josh began his slow and challenging recovery journey.

"I spent about two years recovering," Josh said. "The physical part of it is that you strengthen your body, you start to walk again, but really there's a mental aspect to it that isn't clear."

As Josh gradually healed, he reached out to Lisa and Semper Fi & America's Fund when new obstacles emerged.

"They knew things that I didn't know," he said. "As an amputee, how was I going to drive again? How was I going to get around in my own house?"

Even simple tasks, such as getting from one room to another when the carpeted floors snagged his wheelchair, proved challenging.

But Lisa and Semper Fi & America's Fund had the answers. In partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, they added multiple accessibility aids to Josh's house and property including ramps and a sidewalk for his yard, a new generator for his house, and even adaptive controls for a car. This new technology was liberating, restoring Josh's personal mobility and independence, helping him reclaim simple pleasures.

"It didn't just change my physical aspect but also my mental aspect of being able to enjoy just a regular life," he said.

Over the next 11 years, The Home Depot Foundation and Semper Fi & America's Fund added more features to Josh's home, helping him ease back into civilian life and feel empowered. The attention to detail is what made the biggest difference - like the generator they provided to ensure Josh retained his autonomy in the event of a power outage.

"Everybody knows that a generator is great," Josh said. "But it's different to us sometimes because when you lose power, you have to pull the cord to open your garage door. If you're in a wheelchair, you can't get to the cord to pull it."

Semper Fi & America's Fund was able to provide Josh with this level of dedicated support thanks to Lisa's tireless devotion and friendship, along with funding from The Home Depot Foundation. Since 2011, The Home Depot Foundation and Semper Fi & America's Fund have partnered to serve more than 3,300 veterans with ADA-compliant home modifications, critical repairs and accessibility upgrades.

These modifications helped Josh and other veterans carry out regular day-to-day activities. "The Home Depot Foundation has really helped us address the urgent needs," Lisa said. "Sometimes (veterans) are going home directly from the hospital, for example, and they have stairs going up to the house and they're like, 'How am I going to get up into my house in my wheelchair?' We will go out and get a ramp built for them to make things easier. We can do it overnight if we need to."

In Josh's case, that support has led to a powerful change. Today, he is widely known as a motivational speaker for schools, corporations, and even sports teams like the Indianapolis Colts. He credits Lisa's influence and these home modifications with helping him move forward, highlighting the importance of regaining independence after recovery.

"Being able to get somewhere in our own house, get out of our driveway ... when someone comes in and provides these things, you think, 'Oh, it's easier to do this. I can go down and enjoy the campfire because I have a sidewalk now and I can sit with my kids,'" Josh said. "It really provides a life. It provides us with the daily things that allow us to have the energy so that we can go out and keep giving back to this world."

Shelter After the Storm

Support from The Home Depot Foundation and Operation Homefront helps a veteran return home after disaster strikes.

After a torrential rainstorm in December 2025 caused a major leak in her roof, United States Marine Corps veteran Terri Carmouche was worried for her family's health.

To make matters worse, she soon learned that her insurance policy wouldn't cover the repairs-and she didn't have the money to cover the damages out of pocket. Ten years in the Marine Corps had been a "wonderful" experience, but injuries had left her with service-connected disabilities and limited financial options. Eventually, the extent of the water damage forced Terri and her family out of their home and into a hotel.

"I was sweating bullets," she says. "I told my insurance guy, 'I don't know how I'm going to come up with the money. How long can I stay in the hotel?'"

In need of help, Terri turned to Operation Homefront. The nonprofit organization, a longtime partner of The Home Depot Foundation, builds strong, stable, and secure military and veteran families by improving their financial, emotional, and social well-being.

Terri received a call back from Virginia DeLeon, a Critical Financial Assistance Program® caseworker at Operation Homefront.

"[Virginia] asked me all kinds of questions, and she seemed really concerned," Terri says.

Behind the scenes, Virginia was hard at work: contacting the roofing company, confirming the scope of work, reviewing the contractor's credentials, and working through the details needed to get Terri home.

"Two weeks later, Ms. Virginia called me back," Terri says. "She had called everyone, learned everything about my situation. She was fighting for me when I had no clue what she was doing. Ms. Virginia literally took care of everything for me. I'm still a little speechless about it."

With support from The Home Depot Foundation, Operation Homefront coordinated the assistance Terri and her family needed. Over the course of their 15-year partnership, The Home Depot Foundation has provided the organization with more than $28 million in cash and in-kind support for housing solutions and critical home-repair assistance for veterans like Terri.

That funding enables caseworkers to devote more time and resources to each veteran, customizing assistance around their unique circumstances.

"It's more than just funding; it's actually a strategic and holistic relationship that we have with The Home Depot Foundation," says Alan Reyes, President and CEO of Operation Homefront.

After six months in a hotel, Terri's roof repairs were done. Although work continues on the interior water damage, she is once again able to live in her home, which she describes as feeling "brand new."

"I'm waiting until the repairs are complete so I can send Ms. Virginia this long letter," Terri said. "I never would've thought that an organization would've replaced my roof. Not in a million years. There are people out there who really do care."