Habitat, VAMC build vet's house

On Veteran’s Day, VA Mortgage Center.com employees and Habitat for Humanity volunteers were to gather for a dedication ceremony in front of the house at 901 Wrigley that the company helped fund and build for a local veteran.
VAMC teamed up with Show Me Central Habitat for Humanity to select a veteran, Chris Ruff and his wife, Anne, for the Veteran Build 2010. Ruff, 24, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. VAMC employees began working on the project on Aug. 13. More than 125 employees contributed 756 volunteer hours to the house.

“I volunteered thinking I was just helping out a veteran and left there feeling like I was the one that benefited from the experience,” said Dee Bergstrand, post closer at VAMC. “It was very rewarding to be a part of this project.”
In addition to the volunteer hours they contributed to building the house, VAMC employees also donated $60,000 to fund the project.
“I’ve never been more proud of my VAMC family than being at the house and thinking about how we built this thing from the ground up ourselves — with the help of some much-needed professionals,” said Leigh Ann Wanserski, VAMC chief operating officer.
More than 500,000 military families have used VAMC when it was time to use their VAMC loan benefits, according to a news release. VAMC, which has 350 employees, is expected to secure more than $1 billion in VA funding this year.

Ruff, a Columbia native, applied for the house after his father-in-law heard the two organizations were looking for a veteran in need of a home, according to a Columbia Missourian article. Ruff, who was one of the construction workers, said this summer when the project began, “I didn’t even know how to swing a hammer.”
“I’ve learned a lot,” Ruff said. “It’s interesting to see the house go up from nothing and build the walls and do the roof and do everything bit by bit. I feel really good about what’s going on.”