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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Disabled veteran's dream of a new home comes true

Laney Cope and her father, Joshua, test the water in the pool at their new Oakland home this week. (Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel)

Home at last: Disabled veteran's dream of a new home comes true
Nov 22, 2008
Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
November 22, 2008
As soon as the Honda Element eased into the driveway Tuesday morning, a barefoot Laney Cope bolted from her car seat and scampered around to the passenger side to greet her father. The 2-year-old just couldn't wait. Neither could Joshua Cope.The doors of his adaptive vehicle couldn't open soon enough, the hydraulic ramp couldn't lower quickly enough, and his motorized wheelchair couldn't roll out of the hold fast enough. Finally, this was the day. Joshua and Erica Cope were homeowners.


The Copes' 3,775-square-foot house, nestled on a tree-lined half-acre plot in this west Orange County town, was built and paid for by West Orange Habitat for Humanity. The group's "Home at Last" project, which will be dedicated this morning at Oakland Avenue Charter School, was a pioneering venture to build a house for a severely injured veteran of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Its first recipient: Army Sgt. Joshua Cope.

Usually, recipients of Habitat houses must invest hundreds of hours of their own labor in building their home, which in the United States costs an average of $60,000. The "sweat equity" requirement was waived for the Copes.
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The Copes tour their new home Photos

Do you know a severely injured vet who need a home?
Josh Cope - Long journey back, a step at a time Photos