Video Showcase: Homes for Vets

The Home Depot Foundation has partnered with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to present U.S. Army Specialist (SPC) Maggie Bilyeu and her wife with a mortgage-free smart home that is specially adapted to her accessibility needs.

The veteran was critically injured during her deployment in Bagram, Afghanistan a few years ago.

“The house is outfitted with automatic doors, oversized doorways and wider hallways. Every feature of the home can be controlled through a tablet or a smart device,” said the Foundation.

She sustained multiple shrapnel wounds to her chest and torso, a broken leg and numerous internal injuries as a result of a bombing.

After returning to the U.S. for care, Maggie was diagnosed with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), loss of hearing and tinnitus.

She also lost her left leg below the knee as a result of the attack. Since then, Maggie has been working hard at her rehabilitation.

These smart homes come with high-tech features including automated doors and lighting, special showers to accommodate wheelchairs, automatic door openers and more, said the retailer.

The Tunnel to Towers is a charitable organization founded in tribute to New York Fire Department firefighter Stephen Siller, who died on September 11, 2001, during the attacks, its website wrote.

The organization operates as a tax-exempt 501c(3) non-profit and helps families of September 11, first responders and veterans rebuild in part from funds raised through nationwide charity runs. 

Giving back to veterans is personal to The Home Depot, the retailer said, as more than 35,000 of the company’s associates are veterans or military spouses.

Since 2011, The Home Depot Foundation has partnered with Tunnel to Towers to build more than 100 smart homes for combat-wounded veterans, it said, and invested more than $500 million in veteran causes.