BARRETT TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- This chilly February day is one Army Sgt. Christopher Woodring and his family won't soon forget. It's the first time they saw their new home near Cresco.
"I am speechless. It's beautiful. I mean, it really is. Look at the floors. I mean, it's spacious. It's huge," said Sgt. Christopher Woodring, Barrett Township.
The home was given to the Woodring family, mortgage-free, by Building Homes for Heroes. The nonprofit organization builds or modifies homes for servicemen and servicewomen who were injured while serving post-9/11.
"We don't simply turn over the keys to the home. We come in and rehab the home so that it meets the needs for the veteran," said Jazmine Leon, Building Homes for Heroes.
Sgt. Woodring was injured while he was deployed a few years ago. He retired from the Army and moved to Nevada, where he and his wife Heidi raised their two children in a three-bedroom apartment.
They applied for a home in the Poconos to be closer to family in New Jersey and Luzerne County.
Heidi says it's everything she dreamed it would be.
"It still doesn't feel real even though we are standing here. When we found out, we didn't know what it would be, how it would look because we only got to see the outside, but it's very beautiful," said Heidi Woodring.
The family says besides getting acclimated to their new home and new neighborhood, the other thing they have to get used to is the cold Pennsylvania weather.
"Oh my God, yeah. Coming from Las Vegas, it was like 70 degrees when we left, and we get here and the polar vortex it was -11. I was like, what is going on?'" said Sgt. Woodring.
Though the home is mortgage-free, the Woodring's will be responsible for taxes, utilities, and upkeep payments.
To learn more about Building Homes for Heroes, click here.