Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Cindy Smith of Mechanicsville hugs her daughter, Jaime, after it was announced the 9-year-old had raised more than $660 for the addition to the Getscher home.
A host of volunteers and local officials broke ground Friday on the addition to a home in Chaptico to assist a wounded Marine veteran.
Lance Cpl. Thomas Caleb Getscher, 20, was injured in Afghanistan last summer after stepping an improvised explosive device.
Both of his legs and his left arm below his elbow were amputated to prevent infection from spreading throughout his body. In addition to the amputations, doctors determined he had a severe traumatic brain injury.
Getscher is the first recipient of a Patuxent Habitat for Humanity grant aimed at helping improve the living conditions of veterans.
Patuxent Habitat for Humanity recently was awarded one of eight $100,000 grants from Habitat for Humanity International and The Home Depot Foundation for a program called Repair Corps.
The program is locally being dedicated to Gary Senese, a Marine veteran from Compton and avid Habitat volunteer who died last summer. Dan Doherty, vice president of the Patuxent Habitat for Humanity board, said naming the program after Senese and having the first recipient be a Marine made perfect sense.
“His Marine training showed through ... he was a leader,” Doherty said of Senese’s work with Patuxent Habitat for Humanity.
Mechanicsville Elementary School fourth-grader Jamie Smith, a friend of Getscher’s younger sister, Dottie, raised more than $660 to go toward the project, Pamela Shubert, executive director of Patuxent Habitat of Humanity, said Friday. The entire addition will cost $92,000.
Getscher said after the ceremony that it was nice to have all of the attention. “I really appreciate it,” he said.
Getscher is still living at Bethesda Naval Hospital where he continues rehabilitation, he said. He is learning how to walk on prosthetic legs, a process that will continue for months.
He comes home to his parents’ home in Chaptico most weekends and hopes to move back permanently, perhaps later this year. He said he is looking forward to being able to spend more time with his family, including his fiancee, Emily Thirion, and 18-month-old daughter, Camily. “He’s coming along right well,” his father, William Getscher, also a veteran, said.
The design of the addition to the Getscher house was based on Caleb Getscher’s needs. The plan was reviewed by Veterans Administration staff and includes a bedroom, bathroom and garage attached to the side of the house.
Matt Kulp, a volunteer with Patuxent Habitat, will act as project manager. He said the septic system at the house has already been upgraded so it can accommodate another bathroom and that the hope is to start in earnest on the construction within weeks.
“I think it’s awesome. I just think it’s great for our veterans,” Kulp said. The project, along with other upcoming projects associated with the Repair Corps, offer a way for people to give back to veterans for their service to the country, he said
Two large donations made anonymously will help complete funding for the Getscher project, Don Parsons, president of the local Habitat foundation, said. Patuxent Habitat is still looking for other veterans who might qualify for small projects associated with the Repair Corps grant, he said.
The grant will be divided among 10 projects for veterans in St. Mary’s and Calvert counties. Shubert said the group is taking applications now, and that the grants will be able to cover things like ramps, furnishings, roofing, windows or other projects that alleviate critical health, life and safety issues or code violations.
Pete Green, president of Wyle Aerospace Group, whose company donated to the project, said that the number of other businesses and individuals who had already contributed to the project was no surprise.
“There’s so many things like this in St. Mary’s County where folks say, ‘What can we do?’” Green said.
Doherty concluded the ceremony by leading the group in the song “God Bless America.”
jyeatman@somdnews.com
To help
Patuxent Habitat for Humanity is asking for assistance from volunteers or cash donations to the Repair Corps program. The program uses the same model as new homes built for Habitat families; veterans will repay the zero interest loan necessary for these repairs, which is then deposited into a revolving fund to assist additional families in need of decent housing, according to Patuxent Habitat for Humanity. Repayment will be on a sliding scale based on family income. In addition home repair grants will be allocated in amounts up to $10,000 for each Repair Corps project. For more information, visit www.patuxenthabitat.org or call 301-863-6227 or 410-326-9050.