L-R: Mosby Building Arts' Scott Mosby and Rich Layton with HGTV's Carter Oosterhouse worked together on the veteran's home job site.

Mosby Building Arts, Rebuilding Together St. Louis, and HGTV Change the World joined together to repair and remodel Hence Forland’s home. The retired 27-year veteran is dedicated to helping homeless veterans get back on their feet by giving them a temporary place to live and support their efforts in finding work. His home required extensive repairs and remodeling and the community came together to make his dream come true. His specific and meaningful goal was to create a home atmosphere of motivation and inspiration to those who deserve a better life after serving their country.

Our volunteer staff from Mosby Building Arts worked alongside nearly a hundred volunteers focused on making needed improvements to the 109-year old house. During the filming weekend of June 18 - 22, 2009 we shared in every task imaginable. Tune in to the HGTV broadcast on Veteran’s Day to see the added design features that will elevate and inspire the men Hence Forland is mentoring.

Rebuilding Together, a national organization, excels at rehabilitating the houses of low-income homeowners. It was a magical fit with HGTV as they were able to provide a large bank of committed volunteers to this project. The HGTV production crew was genuinely overwhelmed and impressed with the large numbers of people who worked tirelessly for 4 days in the higher than normal temperatures. There were times the heat index raised to over 105!

Members of the HGTV crew who made this such a successful and memorable project (L-R): Loren Ruch, Haven Wertz, Sandi Ionelli, Monica Pedersen and Rich Belz.

The HGTV crew was also delighted by enthusiastic citizens of St. Louis and their consistent contributions of services, food, materials and money to the project.

Scott Mosby hosted his show as a live KMOX broadcast from the job site. He interviewed multiple members of HGTV and Rebuilding Together St. Louis, as well as the stars, Monica Pederson and Carter Oosterhouse. You can listen to the interviews here. For 3 hours, the story of dedication and generosity unfolded. Some listeners were inspired by the work and contributions to drive to the site and donate to the cause. A sense of genuine compassion and action helped all of us create the reality of Hence Forland’s vision.

Although the HGTV event is complete, there are many veterans in the St. Louis area that would appreciate any help, from a job to a smile. If you are interested, contact the Veterans Affairs for ways you can help a veteran.

Please mark your calendar and tune in to see the results of this project when the episode of The Veteran’s Day special episode of Change the World. Start at Home airs on November 11, 2009 at 8 p.m. on HGTV. Stay connected through our newsletter to get more details as we draw closer to the broadcast date. We hope to share more stories and the ripple effects of the gifts of time and action.

Closer to the airing of the episode, we will share our own stories of the people who touched our hearts and made miracles happen. For now, we share with you:

HGTV St. Louis Event Photos

Focus on Vision of Helping Veterans

Rebuilding Hope. Restoring Dreams

Learn the art of living at CallMosby.com.

Tags: hence forland, HGTV, homeless veterans, Rebuilding Together St. Louis, st. louis missouri, veterans transitional home

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