Building free homes for wounded vets

Building free homes for wounded vets
By Kathleen Toner, CNN
March 11, 2010 4:08 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Dan Wallrath's organization built four houses for wounded vets in Texas
Retired homebuilder started program after meeting father of wounded Marine
Wallrath's team remodeled house for free to make it handicapped-accessible
Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2010 CNN Heroes
Houston, Texas (CNN) -- Alexander Reyes' boyhood dream of a military career ended when he was hit by an improvised explosive device during a patrol two years ago in Baghdad.
"Laying in that hospital bed ... sometimes I felt I'd rather [have] died," Reyes said. "My life came to a complete halt."
Reyes sustained severe blast injuries that led to his medical discharge; he's on 100 percent medical disability. Like many soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, Reyes, now 24, found the transition to civilian life difficult.
But he and a handful of other injured veterans are getting help from what may seem an unlikely source: a custom home builder in Houston, Texas.
Dan Wallrath recently presented Reyes and his wife with an unexpected gift: a home built especially for them, mortgage-free.
Building free homes for wounded vets