Photo Credit: Dona Jean Gillespie

Ron Gettelfinger, President, International Union, UAW;

Patrice Green, Executive Director, VFW National Home for Children;

and Jim Mueller, Commander-in-Chief, VFW take pride in cutting the ribbon on the south end of the duplex.

Dana Hussey, National Home

Board of Trustees President;

Sandy Germany, National President, Ladies Auxiliary; and Cal Rapson, Vice President and Director, UAW, National Veterans Affairs Department partake in the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the north end of the duplex.

Danielle Lightner, a National Home aftercare resident, beautifully sings the National Anthem.

President Ron Gettelfinger gives his remarks about the dedication

of the duplex.

Commander Mueller presents President Gettelfinger with his Commander-in-Chief's medallion.

With Ribbon-Cutting for the Stephen P. Yokich duplex in less than a week, workers have been busy getting the homes ready for completion.  A flag pole has been installed, bathrooms are about done, and back decks

have been built.  Soon, the duplex

will be a place where a future resident can call 'home'.

The Stephen P. Yokich duplex is coming right along with the bricking all done!  Current projects include painting the trim and walls and installing the cabinets and countertops. The houses have certainly taken on the "homey" feel and look!

It's one month to ribbon-cutting! 

The front of the duplex takes on a different look as bricks start to cover.  Inside, cabinets are in the beginning stages of installment while all the tiling is completed in both houses.

Spring is finally here!  And warmer weather means the house will get a new look -- bricks!  Workers have been busy giving the house a solid exterior and it's starting to look like the rest of the homes now.  Inside, the walls receive coats of clean,

white paint.

Walls are up in the new duplex!  Workers put up the heavy drywall in less than a week making the interior look completely different. Electrical work is coming right along with continuing jobs to finish the light switches, receptacles, and light fixtures.  Painting is the next task!

It was an exciting day when the dry wall truck pulled in on March 7 to deliver the donated materials.  This operator, with great care, maneuvered the heavy sheets of dry wall into the side door.  Soon, the interior will start looking more like a home!

Interior construction is coming right along with the installation of plumbing hardware. These Lansing Community College students earned apprenticeship hours by working in the basements of the homes. The National Home is proud to help educate the community while receiving a helping hand!

Construction continues on the new homes' exterior, with vinyl siding accents added recently.  The porches are also beginning to get an individual sense of style.  Columns add to the classic, simple exterior of the homes.

Dedicated volunteers were hard at work installing energy-saving insulation on February 8.  Once the installation is completed, the furnaces will get "fired up" and the real finishing work on the homes' interior will begin!

Volunteers continued their dedicated work on electrical work, and the installation of insulation continues.  Soon, the new homes will be heated with something other than the warm thoughts of volunteers and workers.

Happy New Year!  Bricks are waiting for a warm Michigan spring to find their place on the new homes.  Plumbing and electrical work has also begun and the bathrooms are beginning to take shape. Thanks to these hard-working people, future residents will enjoy a warm home and hot baths for years to come.

The VFW National Home for Children was honored to receive a generous Christmas gift just three days after the holiday.   Employees representing UAW Locals 137 and 1554 Veterans Committee arrived in true Santa Claus style with stoves and microwaves for each unit of the new duplex. 

Thank you!

Just days before Christmas, workers installed doors in the new homes. Just imagine the hundreds of children that will walk through these doorways for decades to come!

All the way from Toledo, Ohio in a caravan of Jeep Liberties the Region 2-B Veterans Committee made their first visit to the National Home on December 14.  The group assured the staff this trip would not be their last. From the Ladies Auxiliary Nursery where the group presented a donation to the information-packed National Home Museum, the group took their time exploring, asking questions and becoming familiar with the Home.  They not only left with information for their fellow union members, but also with a new appreciation for the admirable work the UAW National Veterans Affairs Department has undertaken.

Almost totally enclosed, the new house is starting to look like a home!  Shingling is almost complete and the first sunny Michigan day in quite a while provided an excellent opportunity to see the extraordinary progress that has been completed.

.

An alternate view of the new home from the Ladies Auxiliary Nursery shows the shingling progress in just a couple of days.

So much happens in just one week!  Both roof shingles and windows have arrived at the new home site.  The windows were installed earlier this week and shingling has commenced.  Despite the continued temperatures in the teens and a healthy dusting of snow on the ground, the construction crew and volunteers forage on.

.

Members of Region 1-D Veterans Committee visited the National Home during the week of November 30.  Despite the frigid temperatures and absence of windows in the house, these hard-working individuals prepared the home for a well-wired future.  Using their on-the-job expertise, the volunteers made a real impact in the new home, preparing it for next winter's cold temperatures.

.

With its sharp, interesting angles and attractive shape, the skeleton of the roof began to take shape as sheeting began on November 17.  The sheets of wood lay the foundation for a weather-proof, durable protection for the future families who will call this house, home.

.

Digging, pouring, framing, sheeting... There is a whole new vocabulary required at the National Home these days.  The interior skeleton of the home has been constructed and the roof has started to take shape.  The distinctive curb appeal of the home is apparent in the beautiful angles of the roofline, the bowed kitchen window area and its impressive size and shape. A dusting of snow covered the home today, but work continues.

..

Construction continues to move along at a brisk pace as Michigan weather grows increasingly brisk. Roof trusses were placed during the morning of November 10, and the entire structure began to take shape soon after.  Ladders, cranes and other new equipment is now the centerpiece of construction as the homes reach higher and higher into the air.

.

The National Home was pleased to welcome Bill Peterson, Administrative Assistant to International Vice President Cal Rapson and Chris Laverty, Region 1-C Veterans Committee member to the construction site on November 8.  Peterson and Laverty, along with

their hardworking nationwide team, are guiding this amazing project closer to completion. Despite its rough layout, the visitors were given a general idea of the duplex's interior. The group toured the emerging home as framing continued and sheeting began.

Along with the exterior walls, the interior of the home is starting to take shape through interior framing.   

After weeks of building down--basement, floors and more--the new duplex is starting to look up!  Walls were placed and nailed securely to the main floor on November 4.

A proud and enthusiastic group of volunteers from UAW Local 602 Jobs Bank joined the crew to help with framing.  With every nail these volunteers pound into place, they are making a contribution toward a lifetime of change for single parent families.  The main floor was nearing completion by the end of Wednesday, November 2.  The walls start next!

.

Construction materials have shifted from cement to wood as framing on the new home begins.  November 1 brought a new crew to campus and they immediately got to work.  Floors began to take shape above the basement quickly.

.

Cement trucks made another trip to the VFW National Home for Children campus on October 28.  The basement floor was poured and finished off to a perfectly smooth finish.   When complete, the new homes' basements will feature high-quality carpeting, adding additional living space for family recreation and storage.  The home is really beginning to take shape!

.

As trees on the National Home campus turn shades of orange, red and yellow, the new home site contrasts the bright colors with its earthen brown and cement gray colors.  Basement walls were poured on October 19 as the National Home Board of Trustees met down the road at the Margaret A. Armstrong Guest Lodge. The site was then backfilled with the brown earth from the October 11 basement digging.