Injured service members' families have homes away from home to help loved ones heal

CAMP LEJEUNE -- The aftermath of war is something military families have to deal with every day. Now a program at Camp Lejeune is helping ease the pain. The program is called Hope For The Warriors. It gives military families a home away from home as their loved ones recover from injuries at war. Hope For The Warriors has donated three homes to wounded service members and their families at Camp Lejeune. Twenty-eight-year-old, Jason Simms knows that this program will aid in healing. He said, “Just knowing that this is here for injured marines and their families the families can come down here and not have to worry about finding a hotel room or paying for anything. They just come right here and they’re really close to the hospital and on base. Everything they need is really close by.” Simms wishes he had the program when he was recovering from injuries he suffered in Iraq. He said, "If this was around when I first got injured it would have helped my family a lot. They had to come down here and find a place to stay, besides me and going through what I had to go through, they were stressing out about that they had to worry about find a place to live and all that so if this would have been here it would have been great." Simms was wounded on July 1st 2004. He says, "I was hit by a roadside bomb that had artillery rounds and a propane tank, when it blew up it sprayed the propane on me and I was burnt and have shrapnel and when we were leaving and we were ambushed and I was shot three times in my right leg.” He says his son was his reason to heal. He wanted to watch him grow up and play ball. Now wounded vets have the chance be close to their families as they heal. Hope For The Warriors is planning on building a large facility for injured soldiers and their families. For more information visit www.hopeforthewarriors.org.