SALLISAW, Okla. — On Friday (Sept. 25) the community came together to break ground on the new Sallisaw Veterans Home.
“I’ve had a lot of proud days in my life serving my country when I first joined, getting wounded, but this is the proudest day I’ve had in my military career,” said veteran Larry VanSchuyver.
It was an emotional day for veteran VanSchuyver, as community leaders broke ground on a veterans center to be built in Sallisaw.
He's been a part of the project all along.
“And to see a home that I would be proud to be in,” VanSchuyver said.
Ben Robinson with the Oklahoma Veterans Affairs says the Sallisaw center has been an ongoing project for over two years.
“It was a conversation it was papers rolled out on a desk but today were one a site,” Robinson said.
The new center will house 175 local veterans.
The new space will have private rooms, courtyards, recreational facilities and much more.
It will be a home Sarah Lane says is fit for a hero.
“The service they’ve provided to our country is a debt of gratitude we can never repay and it’s one that we endeavor to do every day,” Lane said.
Construction will begin in the next few weeks and the center is set to be finished in two years.