Sears Teams with Operation Homefront to Award Mortgage-Free Home to Third Generation Veteran Just in Time for Christmas
VILLA RICA, Ga. (PRWEB) December 21, 2017 -- Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families, announces today that U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Kristen Lovelace received the keys to her newly built, mortgage-free home, donated by Sears, just days before Christmas
Kristen was awarded the 1,805 square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom, single-family home built by Wade Jurney Homes in Villa Rica, Georgia, through Operation Homefront’s Homes on the Homefront program.
This extraordinary holiday gift was made possible by Sears’ Heroes at Home initiative. Through Heroes at Home, Sears’ members and customers have generously donated to Operation Homefront when checking out at Sears stores and online at sears.com/heroesathome.
“It’s amazing – thank you Operation Homefront and Sears,” said Lovelace. “We are so happy and we now have a foundation for our future. It’s hard to describe the amount of gratitude we feel,” Lovelace added. “This gift is truly meaningful and will impact our lives in such a positive way.”
Born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, Kristen Lovelace was the first woman in her family to enlist in the military. She joined the Air Force in 2008 at 19 and is a third-generation military service member. Kristen followed in the footsteps of her father, who served in the Navy and is a Vietnam Veteran, and her grandfather, who served in the Marines in World War II.
Kristen served for five years in the Air Force as a bioenvironmental engineer. In 2011, she served a deployment to Qatar before being medically retired in 2013. During her term of service, she earned several medals and awards including an Air Force Good Conduct Medal and Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Award.
After the military, Kristen and her husband Nathan moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Marietta, Georgia. Kristen learned about Operation Homefront’s Homes on the Homefront program through a support network she is active in called Georgia Military Women and when the home in Villa Rica became available, she quickly applied.
Kristen’s future plans are to establish her own business. Nathan will finish his degree in mechanical engineering in 2018 and is excited to begin working in the field. Kristen and Nathan look forward to growing their family with the stability and security that this wonderful gift will provide. They are thrilled to make the home their own, which will be life-changing.
“We are incredibly grateful to Sears and their customers for all they have done to help us help our military families this holiday season,” said Brig. Gen. (ret.) John I. Pray, Jr., president and CEO of Operation Homefront. “We were excited to be able to provide our first Sears’ funded home to a veteran family in Tampa, Florida last month and were thrilled to learn that, due to the extraordinary success of Sears’ Heroes at Home initiative, we are able to provide a second new Sears’ funded home to another veteran family – former Senior Airman Kristen Lovelace and her husband Nathan – outside Atlanta, Georgia. With Sears’ amazing support, we are changing lives and helping military families thrive, not simply struggle to get by, in the communities they have worked so hard to protect.”
Operation Homefront created the Homes on the Homefront program with the assistance of corporate partners to award mortgage-free homes to our nation’s veterans and military families. Since 2012, Operation Homefront has placed nearly 600 military families nationwide, providing them with over $60 million dollars in deeded value to military families.
The homes are donated by corporate partners including Sears and other major financial service companies, as well as home builders.
“What’s better than getting a newly built, mortgage-free home just in time for Christmas? Our veterans have protected the freedoms that allow all of us to make the most of every day – to live life now,” said Kelly Cook, chief marketing officer for Sears and Kmart. “This amazing program with Operation Homefront is helping military families in need and changing lives for the better in big ways and small.”
Anyone looking for more information about the Homes on the Homefront program, or to apply, can go to http://www.homesonthehomefront.org.
About Sears, Roebuck and Co.:
Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a leading integrated retailer providing merchandise and related services and is part of Shop Your Way, a social shopping experience where members have the ability to earn points and receive benefits across a wide variety of physical and digital formats through shopyourway.com. Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through Sears-branded and affiliated full-line and specialty retail stores. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com and specialty catalogs. Sears, Roebuck offers consumers leading brands including Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard -- among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S. The company is the nation's largest provider of home services, with more than 6,000 expert technicians who make nearly 11 million service calls annually. For more information, visit the Sears, Roebuck website at http://www.sears.com or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at http://www.searsholdings.com.
About Operation Homefront: Founded in 2002, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive - not simply struggle to get by – in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 92 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves America’s military families. For more information, visit OperationHomefront.org.
Jason Moody, Operation Homefront, http://operationhomefront.org, 210.243.1657, [email protected]
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