from the Lake County News-Sun

A home away from home

Local fund-raiser for Fisher House at Hines VA

July 10, 2007

By FRANK ABDERHOLDEN fabderholden@scn1.com

Kirk Morris of Gurnee and the Heroes of Freedom Memorial Foundation are helping to provide a home away from home for the families of wounded veterans.

Morris helped organize the first fund-raisers for a Fisher House at the Hines VA Medical Center near Chicago. The foundation held a concert Monday night at the Sundance Saloon in Waukegan, followed by a golf outing today at the Glen Club in Glenview. Legendary Chicago Bears players Jim McMahon, Steve McMichael and current Bear Robbie Gould joined the effort along with a host of other celebrities.

"It's an amazing thing to have people close by. It's huge in the recovery process," Morris said.

Morris said that Hines is the hospital for a 13-state region, and families are forced to either cover hotel costs or not see their loved one.

Morris had planned to build a Fisher-type house on 5 acres he has in Gurnee.

Then he got call from Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn and learned that the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs approved construction of the Fisher House at Hines. Quinn asked Morris to head the fund-raising drive since he already had scheduled this week's fund-raiser.

Sgt. Jamie Stroh of Beach Park shares a laugh with former Chicago Bears great Jim McMahon during the Fisher House benefit held Monday at Sundance Saloon in Waukegan. (Andre J. Jackson/News-Sun)

 GET INVOLVED

Kirk Morris started the Heroes of Freedom Memorial Foundation after his son, Marine Corps Pfc. Geoffrey Morris, 19, died while serving in Iraq in 2004. Contributions for Fisher House can be sent to The Fisher House in care of Heroes of Freedom Memorial Foundation at 3435 Harper Ave., Gurnee, Ill. 60031.

Visit: www.fisherhouse.org  www.heroesoffreedommemorial.org

What is Fisher House?

The Fisher House program is a private-public partnership that supports America's military in their time of need. Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times -- during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury. 8,500 served

The Fisher House program serves more than 8,500 families and has made available more than two million days of lodging to family members since the program was launched in 1990. The average charge is less than $10 per family per day, with many locations offering rooms at no cost.

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Funds Raised For 'Home Away From Home' For Families Of Wounded Soldiers

Bob Roberts Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) - A drive has begun to raise money to build a "home away from home" on the grounds of the Hines Veterans Hospital for the families of military personnel recovering from combat wounds.

WBBM’S Bob Roberts reports the "Fisher House" is the military equivalent of a "Ronald McDonald House," and provides sleeping quarters, a common kitchen, laundry facilities, dining facilities, a living room with library and toys for children.

Each is run by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, but is privately financed.  And as more and more wounded personnel are transferred to the Hines and North Chicago VA hospital to undergo rehabilitation, backers say the need here is growing.

Land has been set aside at both Hines and Great Lakes Naval Training Center for Fisher Houses.  A 21-suite Fisher House would be the first to be built, at Hines.

Organizers said the Fisher House Foundation is prepared to pay half of the estimated $5 million construction cost, with locally-raised funds providing the rest. 

Backers are hoping for a Memorial Day 2008 groundbreaking, and completion of the home by fall 2008.

"When I saw my wife, my son and my mother come around the corner, it's a good feeling," said Mike Mendoza, a recently-recovered Marine whose family stayed at a Fisher House.  "It takes (away) the burden of, 'How are we going to pay for this?'"

1985 Bears Jim McMahon and Steve McMichael hope to jump-start fundraising by hosting a golf tournament at Glenview's Glen Club July 10, sponsored by the Heroes of Freedom Memorial.

McMahon called the standard of medical care at some veterans' hospitals "an atrocity," and said, "We're trying to raise enough money to have these families all be together while they're getting their treatments."

McMichael said he feels a responsibility to be "his brother's keeper," in part because his grandfather was taken prisoner by Japanese Imperial forces during World War II.

Mendoza's wife, Kelly, said he could not have been at her husband's side during his recovery without the help of a Fisher House.

"The Fisher House relieved so much of that burden," she said.  "I think it was a blessing that we were just a block away from where he was staying."

Mendoza shows no outward sign of his serious injuries, inflicted by an exploding land mine.

"I feel grateful when I wake up with tubes coming out of everywhere, with my wife here," he said. 

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