National nonprofit to build Benton County home for injured veteran

A military veteran will receive a new home from a nonprofit that supports injured troops. An event to kick off the construction of the home took place recently in Pea Ridge.

U.S. Army Sgt. Andrew Butterworth will be the fourth veteran in Arkansas to receive a home from Massachusetts-chartered nonprofit Homes For Our Troops. Veterans in Clarksville, Farmington and Russellville have also received new homes from the nonprofit.

Homes For Our Troops was established in 2004 to build specially adapted custom homes for the most severely injured veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars after 9/11. Eligible veterans must be retired or retiring from the military and approved for the Specially Adapted Housing benefits by the Veterans Administration.

Homes For Our Troops builds four-bedroom, two-bath homes designed to allow people to turn 360 degrees in a wheelchair anywhere in them. Homes are about 2,800 square feet and have more than 40 special adaptations, including wider halls and doorways; automatic door openers; roll-under sinks, stove tops and counters; pull-down shelving; backup house generator; sliding windows; roll-in shower with digital temperature control; and master bedroom closet that’s a steel reinforced concrete storm room built to Federal Emergency Management Agency standards.

Butterworth, who’s originally from Missouri, chose to build his home in Northwest Arkansas to be close to family. In 2004, Butterworth was on patrol in northern Iraq when he was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade. The injury resulted in him losing his right leg above the knee. He also sustained a traumatic brain injury in the blast.

According to the nonprofit, veterans do not pay a fee toward the cost of the home, and no mortgage is to be paid by the veteran. Homes For Our Troops also provides veterans with a financial planner for three years, home warranty and homeownership education. The nonprofit has built more than 370 homes in 44 states.