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Mike Vanderveen and his wife Olie were shocked walking into their home of 24 years.

They were told charitable groups were doing a major bathroom remodel, but the groups involved went way beyond that.

New showers, water heaters, washers and dryers, new lights, carpeting, and floors in the entrance and kitchen.

It brought Ollie to tears and left Mike almost speechless. 

“That bathroom is just amazing,” Mike said.

Mike Vanderveen served in the Marines in Vietnam.

He lost his legs to a mine but never let him slow it down, even leading his VFW chapter for several years.

But age made obstacles tougher to overcome.

“To be able to go into the shower without having to climb over things and go through an obstacle course, too much for words,” Mike said.

Krista Hollingsworth runs Freedom Whiskey Co., founded by her late husband, a veteran, that died in 2021.

It raises money for veterans in need each year, and this year they decided to include a service project.

“Seven years later, he never would have imagined the amount of money we’re raising and then this project would have come out of it,” Hollingsworth said.

“It was all worth it and I’d do it again, 100 times,” Nathan Arndts, chief operating officer of Willow Creek Developers & Builders said.

Ardnts is the contractor that made the whole project happen.

He packed a five-week project into two around-the-clock weeks.

“Just blessing upon blessing upon blessing on top of others,” Mike said.