WHAT ARE “ROCKLAND HOMES FOR HEROES” ? WHERE ARE THEY ?
It’s a question I am often asked when the public sees or hears the name. This article should tell the story.
Homes for Heroes, Inc., dba Rockland Homes for Heroes, is an incorporated 501[c]3 Not-For-Profit New York State Charity with a single mission/purpose of providing homes for homeless veterans, the conditions under which the Federal Government gave us the property per a Federal Law. The Board of Directors are 8 unpaid volunteers, 6 of which are veterans. Besides adhering to all Town, County and State laws, we remain accountable to our Federal Government vis a vis the terms of our Deed.
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The property consist of 7 acres on the last remaining parcel of the iconic Camp Shanks, once the largest WW II Port of Embarkation in the world, from which 1.3 million GI’s departed for Europe to fight the nazi army. For this reason, we only provide homes for homeless veterans. We feel he property is sacred land and we are building a “Living Memorial” to those veterans who never came home. The homes are permanent rent-subsidized affordable one bedroom “Supportive Apartments”
The property is at the crossroads of Western Highway and Independence Avenue in the Rockland hamlet of Tappan, town of Orangetown.
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RH4H is the third manifestation of a vision of not-for-profit community residences for our mentally ill and homeless.
The first manifestation, still serving the vision, is Loeb House, Inc. It was created to provide non-institutional long term community living for mentally ill adults. It is the largest non-government charity so doing in Rockland County.
The second manifestation is Joseph’s Home, Inc., originally created to provide housing for families dealing with the AIDS crisis. It now serves generic homeless.
The Business Office for all 3 is in the Blue Hill Plaza in Pearl River.
What has RH4H done to date and what are its plans ?
RH4H currently operates 8 Supported Apartments which have been so successful from every perspective, that it is raising the money to add 14 more Supportive Apartments.
Some of which will have two bedrooms for small families or for veterans who need live-in health-care Aids.
The Construction costs will be 4 million dollars, which will come from our State Government based on our perfect record, financially and otherwise, and the demand to end veteran homelessness. Meantime RH4H must raise $500,000 to be eligible for the $4,000,000. The $500,000 is needed to hire the professionals who craft the Application for the 4 million dollars, an Architect, a Civil Engineer, Town Planning Board fees, Environmental Studies of the property, including dealing with the asbestos contamination of the buildings to be partially repurposed or demolished, multiple inspections and more.
Our Time Line is probably 6 to 12 more months in the queue for the State’s Construction funding, time RH4H can use to raise all the needed start-up money, get final products from the Architect/Engineers approved by the Town so we will be “Shovel Ready” when we get final approval for the Construction funding. We are close to doing it thanks to the compassionate generosity of the community and the volunteers who contribute their time and labor
To learn more or to donate, please visit our web site. www.rocklandhomesforheroes.org or email me at murphy6288@icloud.com
