RESTORING HONOUR
Volunteers spruce up a home-away-from-home for ailing veterans
On his first night out of hospital last year after surgery to have a mechanical pump connected to his heart, Liam Stackwood stayed at the Century Plaza Hotel. For a military veteran newly diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the downtown Vancouver location was less than ideal.
“With all the sirens and everything that was going on, I started triggering, and I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t think I was going to get better, any healthier,” said Stackwood, who spent 20 years as a military police officer and was living in Comox at the time.
The next day he called Honour House to ask for a room while he recovered and waited for a heart transplant. That kicked off nearly a year at the New Westminster home, which offers a free place to stay for Canadian Forces members and veterans, as well as first responders, and their families while they or their loved ones are receiving medical care in Metro Vancouver.
Stackwood estimates that he and his wife saved about $90,000 in hotel bills by staying there.
“I can’t say enough about Honour House,” he said. “The house is such a warm and safe place. It’s a place you can heal and mentally unload.”
That warm, safe place got a bit of a facelift when a crew from WOW 1 Day Painting volunteered their time to redecorate each of the home’s 10 bedrooms. With paint donated by Sherwin-Williams, they spruced up a home-away-from-home that has seen a lot of wear and tear in its six years of operation.
Craig Longstaff, the home’s general manager, was just about to approach the board of directors to ask for money for a paint job when WOW 1 stepped up with the offer of help. He said it is crucial to maintain a calm, relaxing atmosphere for people who may be dealing with anything from cancer treatment to traumatic injuries.
“Not all the stories here have a happy ending. Sometimes it doesn’t go too well, and the guests can be grieving, too. It’s an environment where they can feel safe and relaxed,” Longstaff said.
Honour House was the brainchild of former Vancouver Park Board commissioner Allan DeGenova, who dreamed up the idea after watching a documentary about Capt. Trevor Greene. Greene suffered a massive brain injury while he was serving in Afghanistan.
“I really wanted to make sure that we had something special to say thank you for what they do,” DeGenova said of veterans such as Greene.
For Stackwood, that thank you came in many forms, from staff pet-sitting his therapy dog, Hammer, while he had his transplant last September, to cooking a holiday dinner with volunteers and his fellow guests on Christmas Day.
Stackwood left Honour House in January, but he has vowed to do whatever he can to spread the word about the good work done by the staff and volunteers. He has been known to chat up strangers in RCMP uniforms, just to let them know about Honour House.
“It’s just a remarkable place — 50 volunteers just looking after that place, top to bottom, and caring about us as well. We gained some really good friends from there,” he said.