Local Groups Come Together to Donate Home Repairs to a Veteran
Purple Heart Homes organized the repairs with a donation from the Fredericksburg REALTORS Foundation.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Multiple local organizations and businesses came together this week to install a hot water heater and HVAC system for a Marine Corps veteran.
In December, the Fredericksburg REALTORS Foundation—the nonprofit arm of the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors—approved a $10,000 donation to the newly founded local chapter of Purple Heart Homes, which works to provide “safe, barrier-free housing solutions for service-connected disabled and aging veterans,” according to its website.
The donation, which represented almost all of what the Foundation had in its budget to give, was to fund the repairs at Nate Emery’s Stafford home. Emery, a veteran of the Marine Corps, had been unable to work as a result of his post-traumatic stress disorder, and had been without hot water and HVAC at his house.
David Gursky, director of corporate partnerships for Purple Heart Homes, met Emery following a meeting of the support group Veterans On Board, which Emery attends.
Gursky told the Advance in December that Emery waited for half an hour to talk with Gursky about what he wanted to do for other veteran—but was not going to mention his own struggles until Gursky asked him, “What do you need?”
Emery served for 22 years in the Marine Corps—12 years enlisted and 10 as an officer. He then worked for the Department of Defense as both a contractor and a direct hire for 11 years. He was diagnosed with PTSD while active duty in 2009.
He has been unemployed for the past two years, and said his home has not had hot water since March of 2024 or HVAC for about eight years.
Emery’s teenaged daughter lives with him. “She’s very thin, and her lips would be blue after coming out of the shower,” he said.
Gursky said he was “T-boned” by Emery’s needs, and the REALTORS foundation was deeply moved by Gursky’s presentation requesting funding for the water heater and HVAC.
On Tuesday, a crew from J&J Plumbing arrived at Emery’s home to install the new water heater. Owner Cary Smith donated all the labor for the project, about $2,000 worth.
“I couldn’t have what I have if he hadn’t protected my rights,” Smith said.
The HVAC system was also provided at a discounted price, Gursky said.
Purple Heart Homes established a Fredericksburg-area branch last year but has been active elsewhere in Virginia for several years. Gursky said the organization has spent $235,000 on projects for Virginia veterans.
“We encourage [veterans and first responders] to apply if there’s a need,” Gursky said. “And there is such a need.”
Also with Gursky’s encouragement, Emery said he was able to submit his disability claim to the Social Security Administration and is 90% of the way towards completing a Veteran’s Affairs disability claim.
Emery said military veterans are growing more willing to acknowledge and express their mental health struggles and to seek help and support, but that there is still a stigma around these issues as they relate to first responders—police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel.
Gursky wants all veterans and first responders to know that organizations like Purple Heart Homes are “here because we are here for you.”
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