Fisher House groundbreaking: new home for wounded warriors’ families

A dozen dignitaries including three members of Nevada’s congressional delegation pitched the first shovelfuls of dirt Friday to launch construction of the state’s first Fisher House, where families of wounded warriors can stay while their loved ones recover at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center.

The $6 million, two-story building will accommodate up to 16 families. It is being built by the Fisher House Foundation, which is matching $3 million in funds raised at a breakneck pace by the nonprofit Nevada Military Support Alliance.

Using the words of a mother of an injured soldier who once stayed at a Fisher House, foundation Chief of Staff Mary Considine said this one, like the other 64, will be “a peaceful refuge in the middle of a storm.”

“These homes are more than just a free place to sleep,” Considine said. “They actually provide a healing environment for the families, a place where they can find solace if they need it, a place where they can find shoulders to cry on.”

Scott Bensing, president of the Nevada Military Support Alliance, said, “It’s a humbling day. … I’m so very proud that this day has come nearly 15 months after we committed as a community to raise the $3 million in local funds to help build this home. Do the math. That’s about $50,000 a week for this entire campaign.

“With the very consistent help of the Nevada Veterans Foundation,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that the Nevada Military Support Alliance has set the high water mark for Fisher House funding.”

After more than a decade of fundraising, first as the Nevada Patriot Fund to help families of Post-9/11 war dead and then in 2009 as the Nevada Military Support Alliance, the Southern Nevada community met the challenge by following the lead of such donors as MGM Resorts International, NV Energy and the Engelstad Family Foundation.

Marine veteran and Las Vegas lawyer Joe Brown, who ran the Nevada Patriot Fund effort, said, “It is a wonderful celebration for me because I’ve been very involved in this since day one.”

Looking back on the Nevada Patriot Fund, “the idea was to take care of Nevadans who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. But as the days went by, we not only had Nevadans killed there, but we had Nevadans coming home with no arms and no legs and serious injuries, and our charter under the Nevada Patriot Fund was not broad enough to take care of them. So we re-did ourselves, renamed ourselves the Nevada Military Support Alliance so we are able to do more things now.”

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, noted that families who stayed at Fisher House homes last year saved millions of dollars on expenses.

“Think of that figure. Think of the fact this is all for free,” Titus said.

“We leave no soldier behind in the field, and when they come home we leave no family behind. This Fisher House is a statement to that.”

Reps Joe Heck, R-Nev., and Cresent Hardy, R-Nev., also attended the groundbreaking.

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.