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Learn About Homes for Our Troops
We are Homes for Our Troops, a national non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2004. We are strongly committed to helping those who have selflessly given to our country and have returned home with serious disabilities and injuries since September 11, 2001. It is our duty and our honor to assist severely injured Servicemen and Servicewomen and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor and to coordinate the process of building a home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently.
The homes provided by Homes for Our Troops are given at NO COST to the Veterans we serve.
Homes for Our Troops Has Been Named Top Rated Charity by American Institute of Philanthropy
The American Institute of Philanthropy, one of the country’s premier charity watchdog organizations, has included Homes for Our Troops in their “Top-Rated Veterans & Military Charities” listing. Only 5 of the 32 Veterans charities rated by AIP are included in the Top-Rated Category.
Because of their stringent review process, the AIP is described as "the pit bull of watchdogs" by the New York Times. Newsweek said "It's the toughest of the bunch. Because it disregards certain, potentially suspect, expenses and donations, it fails some nonprofits that the other raters approve."
Board of Directors
John Gonsalves - President and Founder
Board Position: Immediate Past President
September 11, 2001 was a life-changing experience for all Americans. The resulting military deployments of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and subsequently, Operation Enduring Freedom have profoundly changed the lives of many American service members.
After watching a news story on television about a soldier that lost both of his legs due to a roadside bomb in Iraq, John Gonsalves, a construction supervisor from Raynham, Massachusetts wondered what was being done to support our men and women who had sacrificed so much for our country. He set out on a mission to volunteer his time and expertise that he possessed in building homes that met the requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act to an organization that provides such services for those most severely injured as a result of combat.
Mr. Gonsalves was dismayed when he could not find an organization that was supporting such a mission. With an escalating urge to fulfill an unmet need, he knew needed to find a way to help these men and women that were returning from combat severely injured. Traveling to military hospitals to visit with injured and their families, speaking with Veterans’ organizations, and researching the difficulties facing America’s injured service members as they tried to find specially adapted and barrier-free homes, John realized most existing handicapped housing did not take into consideration the types of disabilities incurred in combat therefore, adequate homes did not exist in the marketplace. In February 2004, John founded Homes for Our Troops.
When asked about starting a new non-profit organization, John Gonsalves said, "Starting up a non-profit organization was a field as far away from supervising construction projects as it gets. It’s been a learning experience, and tremendously rewarding. The outpouring of generosity from our citizens at times is overwhelming. The Veterans I have met along the way have touched my heart and I am honored to have them as my friends. Homes for Our Troops is dedicated to providing specially adapted homes for disabled Veterans as long as there is a need."
As the leader of the Homes for Our Troops organization, Mr. Gonsalves is committed to maintaining the highest professional standards, keeping it financially efficient and professionally staffed with dedicated personnel. His efforts were recently rewarded when the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP), one of the country’s premier charity watchdog organizations, reviewed Homes For Our Troops’ finances and included the organization in their Top-Rated Veterans & Military Charities listing with an "A" rating. Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator, recently awarded Homes for Our Troops with a Four Star rating, the highest rating available from this organization.
In its first two years, Homes for Our Troops built a handful of homes as it worked diligently to spread the word nationwide about its mission. Since then, the organization has grown into a highly rated, prominent, national non-profit organization that has built and donated more than fifty specially adapted homes to severely injured Veterans. The organization continually has approximately 30 homes in various stages of construction across the United States and all the services that this organization provides is at no cost to the recipient.
Mr. Gonsalves travels extensively throughout the United States speaking about Homes for Our Troops and advocating on behalf of injured Veterans, including his testimony before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Hearing on Specialty Adapted Housing in 2007 and 2009.
He has been featured in the national media including CNN, NBC Nightly News, Fox News and numerous local media outlets across the country.
Awards and Recognition:
- Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service
- Ellis Island Medal of Honor
- Ellis Island Medal of Honor Society Member
- Quoted by President Bush in his Address to the Troops at Camp Pendleton, CA
- Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor
- ENR Top 25 Newsmakers Award
- Home Magazine’s Home Shelter Award
- Meeting with President and Mrs. Bush in the Oval Office
- Massachusetts National Guard Minuteman Award
- And he has received letters of support from the President of the United States, members of Congress, Senators and Governors and high-ranking military officials to include Senator Edward Kennedy, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Major General, U.S. Army, William B. Caldwell.
To contact John about corporate sponsorship opportunities, email his Executive Assistant, Karen Bracchi, at kbracchi@homesforourtroops.org. Or call 866-7-TROOPS Ext 210
Jay French - Board Chair
Jay French joined our Board in 2007 after providing free legal services as our pro bono counsel since our founding. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1983, he practiced corporate law with firms in New York City and Boston, and now handles transactions in the Legal Department at Sun Life Financial.
“We owe our veterans our full gratitude and support. It is a great honor to serve, in this small way, those who have given so much for all of us. At a time when baseball players are hailed as heroes, Homes for Our Troops enables us to honor our true heroes, the men and women who voluntarily put themselves in harm’s way to protect our freedom. In the Roman empire, soldiers received land and homes from their generals. In America, these homes are the gift of their fellow Americans. Thank you to John and the founding team for creating this opportunity to give that support here and now when it’s truly needed.”
Brian Joyce - Treasurer
Brian joined the Board of Directors in August, 2006. He is a CPA and Certified Financial Planner, working for HighSight, LLC in Wellesley, MA. He has extensive investment and non-profit audit experience.
Brian has seen the life of a disabled veteran first hand. His father, Kevin Joyce, lost both of his legs serving in the Vietnam War. Kevin passed away in 1996 after a long battle with various war-related injuries and in 2003 his name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Hillery Dorner, Esq. - Secretary
Hillery Dorner is an attorney practicing in Acton, Massachusetts. She has been a solo practitioner since 1991 and specializes in real estate and small business. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her Doctorate from Albany Law School, in New York. She got involved in Homes for Our Troops when she encouraged her son to choose a charity to donate his birthday gifts to. That was back in 2004 and she has volunteered her legal services to HFOT ever since.
“What better way to help those who answer the call of duty. Homes For Our Troops allows me to combine my love of real estate with a non-partisan means of supporting our men and women who serve. I want to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes of times past! Our troops give it all for us!”
Jennifer Freitas - Member at Large
Jennifer Freitas joined our board in 2006. She served six years in the United States Army Reserves, as an operating room technician with the 399th Combat Support Hospital. Jennifer has a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. She currently works at a public accounting firm, Piccerelli, Gilstein & Company, LLP, as a manager.
“Being a part of Homes for Our Troops allows me to give something back to all individuals of the military and I'm proud to be a part of such a great organization.”
A Special Thank You to Mark Savan, Don Kinsman, Tim Hashem, and Dawn Teixeira for their years of service on the board of directors.
Employees
Tom Benoit, VP/Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Benoit joined the organization as a volunteer and in April 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. He has a degree in accounting from UMass Dartmouth. He worked in public accounting with KPMG in Boston for three years and then went into private industry, working first at a home healthcare equipment company and then as the Business Manager of a waste-to-energy facility. Mr. Benoit became active in the organization in 2004, first as its accountant, and then as a Board Member and now serves as VP/C.F.O.
“Homes for Our Troops fulfills a critical need for members of the armed forces who were injured while protecting our country and bringing freedom to millions of oppressed people. I am grateful to the many people who donate their time and abilities to this fine organization so that we can, in some small way, show our gratitude to these heroic men and women.”
Dawn Teixeira, VP/Chief Information Officer
Dawn is one of the founding Board members and has been with this organization since 2004 as our Clerk and provided Homes for Our Troops with technology consulting services as well as graphic design, web design and IT support.
She is proud to have family members who have served our country with the Army in Iraq.
“We owe this and so much more to our men and women of all branches of the military. I believe in this organization and it's mission and I will do everything I can to help Homes for Our Troops grow.”
Chris Rodelle
Director of Project Operations
Vicki Thomas
Media Relations
thomas34@optonline.net
Volunteers
Members of the Taunton DAV Chapter 57
Bill Laliberte
Jim Zaher
Ed Nunes
Pete Fox
Steve Horton
Norm Willoughby
Lou Demers
Patty Lamarre
Carolyn Robinson
Sandy Johnson
Elmer Bean
Rich and Trish Villa
Matt Febbi
Dan Higgins
Carol and Russ Gambill
Jan Denise Taylor
Financial Report
How to Request Financial Information
Our Audited Financial Statements and Form 990 for our Fiscal Years ended September 30, 2008 and 2007 can be downloaded using the links below.
Paper copies are available by calling us at 508-823-3300, mailing a request to us via postal mail, or using our contact form.
Summary of Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2008
For our Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2008, our costs for administration and fundraising were only 6% of donations.
We were able to keep our overhead costs low while at the same time increasing donations 36% from 2007 to 2008, to just over $11,000,000.
We want to thank all our supporters and corporate sponsors who donated monetarily and provided home construction materials and professional labor to help us further our mission to build barrier-free homes for our severely injured Veterans and their families.
Download
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2008 Audit Report
2008 Form 990
2007 Audit Report
2007 Form 990