Retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Sean Sexton, who lost his right leg after an injury during the global war on terror, has a specially adapted home in Star built with widened doorframes, roll-in showers and grab bars designed around his needs. The home came together through a partnership between the nonprofit Helping a Hero, Bass Pro Shops and homebuilder Lennar, and Sexton received it alongside his 9-year-old daughter.
Sexton served nine years in the Air Force and deployed twice during the global war on terrorism, according to the Idaho Statesman. He was injured while carrying roughly 250 pounds of equipment in the Middle East, an injury that eventually required amputation of his right leg. He medically separated from the Air Force in 2017 and settled in Meridian. KTVB reported Monday that Sexton had been gifted the fully adapted home in Star, while the Idaho Statesman had previously described the Star project as still under construction and expected to be completed this fall.
Sexton said the injury cost him his leg, and he has described how the adapted home lets him provide for himself and reduces the burden of needing help, per the seed facts behind KTVB's reporting. The home, located in Star's Heritage Heights community, was delivered through Lennar's partnership with Helping a Hero and built with Lennar Homes of Boise.
A Nationwide Push Reaches Idaho
The project is part of Helping a Hero's 100 Homes Challenge, a nationwide effort to build specially adapted houses for severely wounded post-9/11 veterans, as the station's report and related coverage from wcti12.com both describe. The challenge was launched by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, and the retailer has pledged to cover 25% of the cost of each home built through it, the Idaho Statesman reports. Sexton's home is expected to be the 48th built under the challenge, per the same account.
Helping a Hero, founded in 2006, is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds specially adapted homes and provides support services for severely injured post-9/11 veterans. According to Helping a Hero, the organization designs each home around the specific veteran, raises the funds needed for the project, and helps solicit in-kind donations — with homes meant to maximize a veteran's independence. Participating developers donate the land and builders construct the homes at cost, while recipients commit to making the home their primary residence for at least 10 years and contribute $50,000 and a VA Specially Adapted Housing grant toward the project, per Helping a Hero.
Lennar's Growing Commitment to Wounded Veterans
Lennar has committed to building 10 homes across the country for veterans as part of its 2023 partnership with Helping a Hero. That commitment has already played out elsewhere: on Nov. 16, 2023, Helping a Hero, Bass Pro Shops and Lennar presented retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Travis Strong with keys to a two-story adaptive home in Haslet, Texas, according to Lennar's newsroom. That home, a Next Gen model called The Freedom, included four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an adapted guest suite.
Helping a Hero is also pursuing a separate build in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, as part of the same nationwide challenge, though the evidence does not establish the current status of that project or its eventual recipient, per wcti12.com. Helping a Hero homes are customized for veterans dealing with severe injuries, amputations, paralysis or traumatic brain injuries, and the organization continues to accept nominations for eligible post-9/11 veterans who need an adapted home.
What Comes Next for the Program
Helping a Hero has said it has 42 homes left to award under the 100 Homes Challenge, underscoring how much of the nationwide effort remains ahead even as Sexton's build in Star nears the milestone of the challenge's 48th home. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs separately notes that its disability housing grants are meant to provide financial help for eligible veterans to make home modifications that support more independent living with a service-connected disability, according to the VA. For Sexton and his daughter, the Star home represents the latest example of that mission taking physical shape in an Idaho neighborhood.
