Partnering with Houses for Warriors to Give Tyler and His Family a Safe Home

Andrew Canales is a veteran who founded Houses for Warriors, a nonprofit organization that gives the gift of safe and independent living to veterans who are disabled, the same mission as Homes for Veterans! Houses for Warriors has many programs; They rent homes, build homes and partner with organizations to gives veterans a place they can live that preserves their mental health and keeps them safe physically.

Andrew reached out to us in September 2021 with an incredible story about a veteran named Tyler who was in a near fatal incident in Afghanistan and needed an ADA home. After learning about the mission of Houses for Warriors, we asked if Andrew would connect us to Tyler and and his wife Crystal. They submitted their application and our board was extremely touched by their story. We decided to partner with Houses for Warriors and contribute $60,000 towards the adaptation of their home!

Please read the details of Tyler's story below:

"Assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade as an assistant gunner on Chosen Company’s weapons squad, Tyler was deployed to Afghanistan in early 2005. On May 3, 2005 the battalion scouts were ambushed by a group of insurgents, which is when Tyler and his Company were flown in on a rescue mission. During the Battle of Bulac Kulay, Tyler’s squad was assigned to support by fire. When the Taliban realized his team was preventing their escape from the valley, they began firing on his position and he was shot four times. The first bullet instantly paralyzed him, leaving him unable to escape the line of fire and being hit three more times, including one that went through his lung and left him fighting for his life, as his squad leader and squad mate pulled him to safety.

Tyler returned home to Colorado following rehabbing out of state and spent the next 8 years trying to figure out what his new life looked like, battling PTSD, depression, and all of the affects of his paralysis. This is when he decided it was time for a change and that change had to start with him. He enrolled in an adaptive sports program for Veterans, which is where he met his now wife, Crystal. Tyler and Crystal spent years working together, building a friendship, and eventually falling in love
The couple now have two miracle boys after fighting for coverage for IVF due to Tyler’s combat related injuries, successfully advocating for the VA to cover treatment for wounded Veterans. Tyler is also now a senior studying finance following a long road of returning to work and the community.

Crystal and Tyler bought their dream forever home that they look forward to raising their young family in, but there is a good amount of work to be done to make it safe and accessible for Tyler. Crystal is a firefighter, so when she is on shift it is important that Tyler be able to be as independent as possible with their boys while she is away." [Excerpt from housesforwarriors.org]

We are beyond excited to get started on this project which will break ground December 13th. We encourage you to follow along with our journey as we will be posting updates here as well as on the Houses for Warriors site. 

Thank you for your support so far and we hope you will continue to support our efforts so we never have to turn away veterans like Tyler and his family.