Habitat to build free house for another soldier

Habitat to build free house for another soldier
Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
April 10, 2009
Before his second Iraq deployment, U.S. Army Spc. Marcus Griffin shared a somber premonition with his wife, Andrea:

He had a feeling that he wouldn't make it home.

A close encounter last November with a booby-trapped house nearly made him a prophet. Though the blast left him forever worse for wear, the 24-year-old did make it home.

Now, West Orange Habitat for Humanity hopes to give him a home to call his own. On the heels of "Home At Last," its pilot project that built a house last year for Army Sgt. Joshua Cope, who lost his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq, the group has tapped Marcus to star in its home-building sequel.

"We do ... feel a special responsibility to support veterans of our local Central Florida community who were severely injured and disabled in the service of our country," said Bill Criswell, an organization spokesman. "Marcus' injuries may not be as evident as Josh Cope's, but he, like so many other of our returning veterans, has paid a heavy price serving our country."

More than $300,000 in cash and in-kind donations helped construct the Cope home — a goal Criswell knows may be tough to reach in this economy.
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