Serving Those Who Served Us: Home With Heroes

If you see a gray-and-orange-camouflaged Toyota Tundra sporting a Wilsonville Toyota logo, you can bet it’s driven by a hero. In 2015, Wilsonville Toyota partnered with one of owner Dave Jachter’s favorite charities, Home With Heroes.

Home With Heroes was founded in 2011 by the organization’s president Jake Carse, who was inspired by his friend’s service to our country. Their mission statement describes just how dedicated the organization is to serving those who have served our country, “Home with Heroes exists to bring veterans together in the outdoors to honor and thank them for their service. We never forget their sacrifice. We forever show our gratitude.”

“It’s good for the soul and it’s great for the people who have risked their lives to keep America free” said Wilsonville Toyota owner Dave Jachter.

The nonprofit organization is fully reliant on volunteers who dedicate their time and effort to providing the best possible experience for the veterans in the program. Each year these volunteers provide 150 veterans with all-expenses-paid hunting, fishing and community building trips. The Homes With Heroes ranch includes 3,200 acres of private reserve land in Klickitat, Washington where veterans can explore the outdoors cost-free. Interested in getting involved? Check out their full list of volunteer board positions.

There are three ways to get involved with the generous Homes With Heroes team. First, you can attend a Homes With Heroes event. Their major annual events include banquets, golf tournaments and a “5K Run and Gun”.  Another way to get involved is to sponsor veteran events. A $2,500 sponsorship will provide veterans with either a 2-day salmon fishing trip or a private deer hunt, while a $5,000 sponsorship will cover the expenses for a big game hunt for elk or a weekend pheasant hunt on the Homes With Heroes ranch. These sponsorships also include all food and lodging for the vets for the entirety of the trip. Finally, the third way you can get involved is to help build tiny homes for housing vets on the Home With Heroes ranch. Learn more about ways to get involved here.

The next Home With Heroes event is their annual banquet which will be held at the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington on March 1 at 6 p.m. Check out their list of upcoming events here.