PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — When Army Sgt. Terrance Hinton died in a training accident five years ago, and his wife Jillian found the support she desperately needed.
“Tunnel to Towers actually picked me up in my darkest spot and gave me a home and I’m now three years removed from that,” she said.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundationstarted to honor the sacrifice of New York City firefighter Stephen Siller who died on 9/11.
The organization has been building mortgage-free homes across the country for families of fallen military and first responders and for those left catastrophically injured.
But now they are doing something they’ve never done before.
Building an entire community of homes dedicated to that same cause.
It’s in Land O’Lakes and calledthe Do Good Village.
“It’s really about the healing process and having these families come together living in a community where the children here all have gone through a similar experience. The spouses here have gone through a similar experience. It really lends itself. We’ve seen this in New York with our fire department families. Police department families. Creating that bonds and having those shared experiences really helps the healing process,” said Tunnel To Towers Executive Vice President Matthew Mahoney.
Some of the 96 homes in the Do Good Village will be custom-adapted smart homes to make life easier for those who need it.
“They are going to have stoves that go up and down. They are going to have cabinets that can be pulled down. They are going to have zero access facilities like their bathrooms,” said Hinton.
Jillian plans to move here in the future.
Not just for the new home but the community that comes with it.
“When one of us is in need and no one else is going to be able to understand and come in with that compassion, that empathy that only those children fully understand from their shared loss, that’s what it’s going to look like,” said Hinton.
