soldier house

Growing Home
Sub: Foundation offers healing, support for Fort Hood soldiers

By Kristine Favreau
Killeen Daily Herald

For six weeks the soldier didn’t speak, until he spent a day toiling to plant new life into the earth. Something in that gave him the courage to speak again, and the words that flowed from his mouth held a haunting tale of body parts strewn across the ground in Iraq, body parts he had to collect. One woman’s patience and understanding held the key to healing for that soldier, along with the thousands of other soldiers she has touched.
“He came in here and wasn’t speaking. I took him outside and gave him five plants that needed to go in the ground. It took him all day to do it, but he got them planted. I told him if they didn’t get watered they would die, so he watered them every day for a week, still without ever talking. When I told him I had to go to Houston for a week and needed him to care for them, he looked me in the eye and said ‘Then you’re going to have to tell me what they’re called,’” Julie Curtis-Win said. “Once he started talking, he told me about gardening with his grandmother as a child, and before I knew it, he was telling me about picking up pieces of bodies in Iraq. My first thought was, I’m going to need more plants for this place.”
Win runs the Texas Military Family Foundation, a non-profit organization located on Fort Hood dedicated to meeting the needs of soldiers all across the United States. In a small government building surrounded by plants and flowers, Win does everything in her power to fill those needs, regardless of what they are. The journey that brought Win to the building with the bright red-roof and gardens used to heal wasn’t one she had planned.
Win isn’t the mother of a soldier, or the spouse or daughter of one either. She is a Master Gardener with the Texas A&M extension, who was working in Temple before the beginning of this war. Her first interaction with the Army came through the adopt-a-school program while she was working to build a greenhouse on campus. When the unit sponsoring her school received orders to deploy in 2003, Win wanted to be there to say good-bye. She called everyone she knew in the school district and gathered more than 6,000 cookies to give away at the manifest site.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve even been through,” she said. “Watching wives and children say good-bye, watching the soldiers fight back tears as they gave their children a final kiss.”
Setting up a table for the cookies, Win was mortified when a soldier asked how much they cost. “He wanted cookies to take on the plane, and I couldn’t believe that a soldier who was going off to fight for this country thought I would charge him.” said Win. That moment changed Win’s life.
Win said she knew she needed to do more, so she started going to every deployment with cookies, smiley face stickers, drinks, and whatever else she could scrounge up. For Win, that still wasn’t enough. She started bringing bags filled with toiletries and other items for the soldiers deploying. “While these soldiers are thinking of duty, honor and country; I am thinking of patriotism, motherhood and sacrifice. While they are walking out the door to board these planes, I am praying that their families will sustain the year long deployment and the soldier will return safely,” said Win. “Sometimes I receive calls on my cell phone an hour or so after soldiers leave that have used my phone while waiting to deploy and end up talking to the family member, often a mother, on the other end. I hope it is comforting for them to know that there is someone, actually a team of us, that are there with those soldiers deploying.”
Realizing there was a greater need; Win expanded her efforts to include north Fort Hood, the area where National Guard and reserve soldiers train prior to going to Iraq or Afghanistan. Securing use of a building, Win brought in pool tables and built a makeshift center for the soldiers, where she continued to feed and provide services for them. “There were 5,000 soldiers out there with nothing,” she said. “The day we opened up, soldiers came to me in tears, they were so happy to have something normal in their lives.”
Win spent two years on north Fort Hood before moving into an office in the bottom of a 1st Cavalry building. The Texas Military Family Foundation was born from Win’s determination to make a difficult situation for deploying soldiers something a little less stressful. Finding financial support from a silent partner, Win was able to hire a few staff members. In March of 2005, Win moved to the current location, which she has turned into a haven for soldiers from every branch of service. The new location houses 16 computers donated by Dell, a kitchen area, a donated big-screen television, recliners, cell phones, and numerous other amenities for soldiers.
The building is also home to a garden tended by troops trying to pass time between doctor’s appointments, surgeries, classes, and regular duty. “It’s healing,” said Win. “They plant something, and they nurture it, they watch it grow, and they have that instant gratification. It takes their mind off of other things they’re dealing with.”
What started as a service to deploying soldiers has evolved to become a home away from home for soldiers returning from Iraq. “This is where we come for comfort, where we come to heal and find peace,” said Specialist Timothy Wright. Wright came to TMFF after being wounded in Iraq. With his jaw wired shut, a tracheotomy in his throat and shrapnel lodged throughout his body, he made his way to Win. “I couldn’t sleep when I got back from Iraq. I felt caged in my room and I just paced the floor.” said Wright. “The first time I came here, I sat down in front of the TV and ten minutes later I was asleep, I had finally found some comfort.” Wright has healed from his physical wounds and Win has helped him heal from the wounds that run deeper. “She’s here to listen to us; it’s like a piece of home,” he said. “I love Julie, she’s really important to me.” The center is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. “If they need us, we’re here,” said Win.
Win continues to take care of soldiers at every deployment, every homecoming, and at the Soldiers Readiness Centers, where she provides snacks and drinks to soldiers who are processing either before or after a deployment, as well as providing assistance to soldiers in the barracks who are recuperating from injuries.
Nearly all of the renovations to the TMFF building have been done by soldiers who spend time there. “It gives them something to do until they’re ready to talk, or ready to leave,” said Win.
Win has assisted in the deployment of over 100,000 soldiers, and not all of them come back. “I know some of these soldiers I touch won’t come back, and I know of a lot of them who have already died,” she said. “And it’s the highest honor I can have to help them before they go, and be here for those who come back.”
The need for Win’s services continues to grow as more soldiers return from deployment and others prepare to leave. Win, without ever asking for anything in return except a hug, needs help now. The backer she has been supported by until now is financially unable to continue supporting her cause and Win is shouldering the responsibility of continuing to care for the service members. “I know people can only give so much,” she said. “But these soldiers give all, they’re willing to give their life.”
Win is asking that the community provide any assistance it can, even if it’s just gift-cards to a grocery store to help offset the hundreds of dollars she spends a month for food. “The absolute least I can do for a soldier who has just gone to hell and back, is have a fridge full of food for him to open,” said Win.

Contact Kristine Favreau at favreauc@kdhnews.com

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For more information on the Texas Military Family Foundation, please visit www.tmff.us or contact Julie Win at 254-618-8109 or mail your tax deductible donation to: TMFF, 1610 South 31st Street, Ste. 102, Temple, Texas 76504. If you are interested in donating items, there is a wish list on the Texas Military Families Foundation web site.