Disabled vet gets new home

Chesapeake - If home is where the heart is, then Corporal Jonathan Bartlett's house has a lot of love inside.

After months in the making, the 23-year-old disabled veteran got the keys to his three bedroom, 1,500 square foot home and a warm welcome.

The non-profit organization, Homes for our Troops, helps build specially adapted homes at no cost to veterans. For project manager Rick Goyette, Bartlett already paid a heavy price.

"We like to say that our veterans have earned their houses that we provide to them through their service and dedication and sacrifice for themselves and their family throughout the United States."

His new home features lower appliances and cut-outs to fit his wheelchair. His favorite room? The bathroom.

"I have a bathroom I can play tennis in and I got a new bed that's not like spongy."

Donna Belka with Tidewater Modular homes has been there since the beginning.

"It was an easy sell once you met Jonathan, you wanted to do everything you could to help him."

Judging by the flood of white signs in the front yard, a lot of other people did too.

"We thought it was just going to be us and a couple of subcontractors from Tidewater Builders Association working on this and it turned into so much more," says Belka.

This labor of love is not lost on Bartlett.

"A lot of them got hit in a battle, but I didn't I just got hit driving a truck leaving a battle, you know. It's not good for the ego and you get home and people give you a house, here's a house. What do you say to that?"

Bartlett's home is the second completed home in Virginia. Plans are underway to build another one in Richmond.

Related links: www.homesforourtroops.org