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Finding a hero for heroes: Local group aims to build $75 million veterans facility in North Texas
By Kelley Chambers, kchambers@starlocalnews.com
Elizabeth Stack is no stranger to the military. Although she has never served in the armed forces, the men of the Prosper real estate agent’s family have a long history of dedicated service.
But it wasn’t until one of her brothers returned from his fourth tour in Afghanistan that Stack realized she wanted to do much more than just stand behind them. She wanted to be a hero for them.
“We have our men and women in the armed services to take care of us and protect the freedoms we possess, but at the same time our men and women need to have faith in us that when they come home, we will protect them and take care of them,” she said.
“There’s been such a negative stigma on PTSD and we want to educate not only our military but educate society, as well,” Stack said. “A person might have PTSD but they’re not a loose cannon.”
With roughly 50,000 veterans residing in Collin County, Stack said having a facility in North Texas would serve as a local resource for those whose alternatives for care consist of lengthy drives to places like the Denton VA Clinic and the Dallas VA Medical Center in south Dallas.
“Many can’t drive to south Dallas. Traffic stresses them out or they can’t drive for various reasons,” Stack said. “We don’t have anything in the North Texas area.”
While today’s technological advances in armor have helped save many lives on the battlefield, the outcome for many soldiers returning home from active duty is loss of limbs and psychological impact. The new facility would also serve as a hub to help connect veterans to existing service agencies in the area, Stack said.
“When they get these limbs, we will be helping them learn how to walk and will make sure they are fitted properly,” she said. “We want to help them learn how to live in a non-ADA compliant apartment. When they go to the grocery store, we want to help them know how to maneuver with a prosthetic. They need to be taught how to pick something up, how to grasp it. There are so many things we take for granted.”
Upon conducting his research last summer on what other types of privately owned facilities are available to veterans, FAITH co-founder and McKinney Realtor Matt Hilton said he was surprised to find there was only one in Texas.
The Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio was the vision of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, whose family raised funds to construct the $50 million facility in 2007.
“It was all about being in different places at the right time,” said Hilton of his involvement with FAITH. “People would come up to me and say that their relatives had an issue with having to drive to Denton or Sherman or Greenville or Dallas to get medical care and although our facility is not going to be a medical facility, it’s going to be rehabilitative and therapeutic related, with a focus on suicide prevention.”
Two months after forming the group and only a month after receiving its nonprofit status from the state, FAITH followers have grown to nearly 600 likes on Facebook, a number that made Hilton laugh, pleasantly surprised because their goal was to get 1,000 likes by the end of December.
“That was a lofty number but this is a lofty vision, is it not?” he asked rhetorically. “It can be done.
It can be done by all of us coming together and [my research] gave me the shot in the arm so to speak to spearhead this and move forward, instead of hoping someone else will come along and do it.”
Thankfully, not all of the $75 million has to be raised before construction can begin, Hilton said. About half needs to be raised in order to begin construction; the rest will be raised after breaking ground and will be used to help sustain its operations as a privately ran facility independent of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Stack intends to attract the majority of funds from local big name corporations like Walmart jcpenny, Dr Pepper and Raytheon, but said she also hopes more and more local residents and service members will get behind the endeavor, as well.
“We have just an idea. It’s just a matter of getting them executed and getting them further than just the idea,” Stack said. “[So far,] the passion and idea has just gotten stronger and stronger.”
Members of FAITH are in the process of planning an April fundraiser, possibly in McKinney, and are looking for anyone who might be interested in donating land for development of the facility.
The group meets the first and third Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. 6951 Virginia Parkway in McKinney. For information about FAITH, visit ourchancetohelpheroes.com or visit search Facebook for Fellow Americans Inspired by True Heroes.
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