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Keys To A New Start: Veteran Receives Mortgage-Free Home

JOPPA, Md. (WJZ) -- Across America, there are volunteer groups dedicated to helping veterans.

As Mike Schuh reports, one group gave a disabled vet a gift like no other.

This moving day is the day Casey and John Larson will remember forever.

Their condo home is worth $100,000, but it didn't cost them a dime.  There's no mortgage.

John Larson is a veteran.  He nearly died in Afghanistan when his esophagus collapsed.

"And I didn't hear from him for five days.  And I was calling every day saying, 'Do you know something?'" said Casey Larson.

He recovered, but is now permanently disabled.

His new home, and 350 others across America, are donated by Operation Homefront.

"We're getting the Larsons moved in. They got the keys to the home today," said Tom Greer, Operation Homefront.  "Oh, it's incredibly rewarding."

A counselor works with the family for a year or two, then, if they're ready, the home is signed over to the vet.

"It's about making an investment in these veterans' futures," said Greer.

The homes are all bank repossessions.  They're donated and rehabbed.

It looks like everybody wins.

"It never gets old helping people who have served their country," said Greer.

Operation Homefront has donated five houses in Maryland.

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