Leroy Worth remembers his military service like it was yesterday.
“Three years, six months and 18 days,” he said. “I’m glad I did it but going through it was rough.”
He retired from the U.S. Army 65 years ago.
A team of active duty military men and women gathered at his home in Tampa this week to spruce up a dilapidated property.
“There are close to 100,000 of them live in Hillsborough County alone,” said Habitat Hillsborough’s Veterans Initiative Outreach Coordinator Nitza Rivera. We just need to make sure we are taking care of those who came before us.”
In an effort to “serve those who served,” nearly 100 community volunteers will work with Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County to repair, renovate, rejuvenate and construct the homes of eight local military veterans during Habitat’s eight-day “Veterans Build” service event. It began Monday with home repair work and concludes Nov. 12 with the start of construction on a home for Army veteran Adam Damewood and his wife, Nancy.
Active duty service members from MacDill AFB helped paint Worth’s home on Thursday.
“Helping out the community in general,” USAF active duty member Alex Struna said when explaining why working on vet homes was special. “It doesn’t have to be a veteran, but that definitely helps the cause.”
Veterans Build is in conjunction with Habitat Hillsborough’s ongoing “Veterans Initiative” program, which offers zero-interest homeownership opportunities all year long for limited income veterans, as well as home repair services for low-income veterans who are already homeowners.
“This is a good way to show support for our older veterans,” said Rivera, who served 23 years in the Army.
Rivera spearheaded the effort for Habitat Hillsborough to develop a program devoted to veterans in our community to help low-income or disabled veteran homeowners with maintaining property needs and helping those who don't own with affordable homeownership opportunities, according to Habitat Hillsborough.
She credits her community outreach to her military upbringing.
“I learned about taking care of people,” she said. “About serving not just my country but my community.”
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