Nonprofit honors veteran with home repairs
Nov. 11—MANCHESTER — A few days out of every year, like Veterans Day today, are dedicated to honoring those who sacrificed precious time in their lives to serve in the military and protect the country.
For the people at House of Heroes, a few days is not enough to accomplish their goal of expressing gratitude to military and public safety veterans.
That's why in October the group came together to do house repairs and yard work for a local U.S. Army veteran — Capt. Nicodeme Sohahongkombet — who has been deployed overseas to three countries in multiple tours of duty and is still serving in the reserves.
House of Heroes, a nonprofit organization founded in 2000, serves veterans and their spouses who are disabled, living on a fixed income or facing any other physical or financial issue.
Through sponsors and volunteers, House of Heroes performs minor one-day repairs and improvements to their homes at no cost to the serviceman or woman.
The organization has a chapter in Connecticut, Delaware and Iowa and three in Georgia. Bill May and Steve Cavanaugh founded the Connecticut chapter in 2012.
Since then, House of Heroes Connecticut has served 184 veterans with 172 of them being in the state, according to Senior Consultant Dennis Buden.
"We do what we can to serve as many veterans as we possibly can," he said "A vast majority of our work is in Connecticut and that's where our focus is.
Buden added that 2022 has been the chapter's biggest year with 27 different veterans receiving help from volunteers.
Their most recent project took place in Manchester where the organization assisted Sohahongkombet and his family.
On Oct. 15, volunteers from Pratt & Whitney and the P&W-4-VETS Employee Resource Group spent the day improving Sohahongkombet's house.
"I was very grateful to have them come to my home to assist," Sohahongkombet said. "A veteran like me appreciates what they do for the community."
Buden noted that the 15 volunteers rehabbed and stained Sohahongkombet's deck, fixed doors, did yard work and made upgrades in the bathroom.
"Giving back to our veteran community is incredibly important for our military veterans and employee resource group and we are looking forward to continuing to collaborate with them in the future," President of Pratt & Whitney RTX Vets Rachael Witkege said.
Sohahongkombet, 38, is a native of the Central African Republic who moved to America when he was 18.
He earned an undergraduate degree in environmental and social science from the University of Maryland, a master's degree in healthcare administration from the University of Arizona and a doctorate in business and healthcare administration from Northcentral University.
In 2012, Sohahongkombet joined the U.S. Army and served in Germany, Morocco and Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. After being honorably discharged in 2018, Sohahongkombet now serves as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and lives in Manchester with his wife Debora and six children.
On the day of the project, a ceremony was held, food donated from Highland Park Market was served, and Sohahongkombet's story of service was shared.
"We had terrific weather and it was just a great day," Buden said. "Who doesn't appreciate all of what our veterans have done for us to preserve our freedom?"
Collin covers South Windsor and East Hartford for the Journal Inquirer.
