Lodge under construction at House in the Woods

House in the Woods photo  COACH’S DONATION — Deane Smith is pictured handing a check to Paul House from New York Islanders Coach Jack Capuano, a former Maine Black Bear standout. Seated, from left, are Bill Emery; House, holding his grandson, Joel; and Deanna House.

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

 LEE — House in the Woods, a nonprofit program for veterans and their families to help heal the physical and mental wounds of war, is about to have a permanent home.

 Co-founders Paul and Deanna House of Lee have donated four acres of land near their home for a permanent lodge after six years of sponsoring statewide trips for the veterans and their families.

 “We’ve been thinking about this for a long time but had no idea how we could raise the money to do it,” said Paul House. “Things have really come together pretty fast.”

 House in the Woods was started by two families who lost sons in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007: Paul and Deanna House’s son, Joel; and Bill and Quie Emery’s son, Blair. The two soldiers died from combat-related wounds six months apart.

 Although the Houses live in Lee, they’re able to host hunting trips, outings and getaways statewide and sometimes out of state at no charge to the vets, thanks to the generosity of sports outfitters, lodging and camp owners and other businesses.

 Now, the foundation is ready to be poured for new building — 90 feet long and 80 feet wide — that will serve as the program’s base camp.

 House said that a conversation with retired Col. Peter Ogden of the Maine Army National Guard led to a meeting with Doug and Rita Sukeforth of South China, whose charitable foundation donates thousands of dollars to worthy causes each year.

 Among the Sukeforths’ first donation to House in the Woods was a Chevrolet Avalanche four-wheel-drive pickup truck for the site.

 Then the management team at Lane Construction Company visited House and offered to donate both materials and labor to get the construction project off the ground.

 Things just “took off from there,” House said.

 Treeline, a forestry company from Chester, has donated manpower and the use of equipment like an excavator, bulldozer and dump trucks.

 Lincoln Maine Federal Credit Union and Machias Savings Bank are “huge supporters of ours,” said House.

  Jeremy Bragg, an engineer from Newport, did all the CAD drawings for the building and additional help recently came from S.W. Collins and Aroostook Trusses.

  Once completed, the lodge will have a spacious “great room,” six bedrooms — including two with ADA showers — an indoor archery range and an upstairs apartment.

 “Our dream is to start building in July and have it mostly completed by the end of October,” House said.

 “By having the lodge close to home, we can add more hunting opportunities,” House said. “For non-hunters, we can offer things like basket making, fly-tying or just give someone a chance to get away from it all.”

  House in the Woods recently became affiliated with the Amazon Smile program where the online retailer donates .5 percent of the purchase price of eligible products to the retreat. Those who already have an Amazon.com account can simply designate House in the Woods as their preferred charity — the account number stays the same.

  Since 2010, House in the Woods has served more than 400 veterans and their families and the organization doesn’t anticipate slowing down.

 A devoutly religious person, Paul House said that he feels that “God has inspired us to do this. It’s something we could never do on our own. And when you have people coming to us out of the blue offering to help, you know God’s hand is in this.”

  More information is online at  www.houseinthewoods.org or on the House in the Woods Military and Family Retreat Facebook page.

House in the Woods photo  AVALANCHE OF GOOD WILL — Deanna and Paul House are pictured next to a Chevy Avalanche pickup truck donated by Doug and Rita Sukeforth to House in the Woods.

House in the Woods photo  LOOKING THINGS OVER — House in the Woods staff and volunteers look over the computer-aided design (CAD) drawings for the new lodge. Pictured in the foreground is Deane Smith. Back row, from left, are Bill Emery, Don Hill, Paul House and Gordon Boyington.