Breakfast at Hamden Restaurant Benefits Veterans on Veterans Day

Buying breakfast at a Hamden restaurant on Sunday helped get veterans the assistance they need to make repairs to their home.

“It gave me the freedom to actually keep it up, you know, not have to worry about it,” said Sgt. Judy Burke, a veteran of the Connecticut Army National Guard.

Burke, of Ansonia, served through the 1980s and early 1990s. She and her husband, who’s also a veteran, benefited from House of Heroes Connecticut.

The non-profit helps veterans who are living on a fixed income, are disabled or facing financial or physical challenges by making improvements to their home, including creating handicap access, doing electrical work, window replacement, deck repair and much more.

All of the work is free of charge to the veteran.

“It gives them the opportunity to be able to afford to stay in their home,” said House of Heroes president and co-founder, Steve Cavanaugh.

This Veterans Day, dozens of people filled Eli’s on Whitney for a Veterans Day breakfast from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. All proceeds went to House of Heroes. Cavanaugh said that included bartender tips.

“Anything I can do for them, for what they gave for this country, I’m happy to do,” said Jim Furnaro, who came to show his support.

Others, like U.S. Navy veteran Gary Kasprzycki, also volunteer with House of Heroes to give back.

“We do everything, like making it accessible for handicap bathrooms, ramps, doors, windows,” Kasprzycki said.

House of Heroes Connecticut Chair Carol May’s late husband served with the Army for 23 years. Bill May helped found the Connecticut chapter of the non-profit with Cavanaugh back in 2012.

“The military is a family. And we all work together, we all support one another and families need, families need help,” May said.

In its six years, House of Heroes Connecticut has worked on 110 homes, 18 in 2018 alone.

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