PORT ANGELES — Volunteers are needed to finish landscaping for a free specially adapted home constructed east of Port Angeles for a former Marine combat infantryman who lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan.
A “landscaping party” will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday to install landscaping at the home built for Marine Cpl. Ammon Lang and his family at 72 Hidden Highlands Drive, off O’Brien Drive east of Port Angeles, said FaLeana Wech, former director of the North Peninsula Building Association.
The association has teamed with Massachusetts-based Homes for Our Troops on the project.
“Anyone who wants to volunteer can simply show up with their gardening equipment, such as wheelbarrows, shovels, gloves and anything they need to do yard work,” said Wech, who became communications and public relations director for the Building Industry Association of Washington last summer.
Wech, who commutes from Port Angeles to Olympia, is the daughter of Jerry Hines, owner of Sequim-based Hines Construction, general contractor on the project.
Malone’s Landscaping, based in Kent, will donate the landscaping supplies, and Pacific Playground will donate play equipment for the Langs’ children.
Massachusetts-based Homes for Our Troops is spearheading the project, its first in Washington state.
Lang stepped on an improvised explosive device while serving in Sangin, Afghanistan, on June 11, 2011.
His left leg was blown off above the knee, and his right leg eventually was amputated below the knee.
The home was built free of charge for Lang; his wife, Kiri; and their 2- and 4-year-old sons. They currently live in Kansas.
A key ceremony is planned for Jan. 18, Wech said. Then, the family can move into the house.
At the groundbreaking in April, Lang said his family chose the Port Angeles area because his wife has family in Washington state and because of his fondness for the outdoors, especially camping, fishing and hunting.
He plans to start his own “makers’ space” business, which he described as a place where people could work on their projects in a cooperative atmosphere.
The house has a single-story floor plan with more than 155 adaptations built into it, such as doors large enough to fit a wheelchair and low counters.
Volunteer interior finishers also are needed for work with tile, hardwood floors, cabinetry and other skilled finish work, Wech said.
The interior is slated to be finished by early January, she said.
Homes for Our Troops is organizing fundraising efforts with the North Peninsula Building Association.
More than 60 regional and local businesses and individuals teamed up with the building association to help with home construction.
To donate or volunteer with the North Peninsula Building Association for the interior finish project, phone Hines at 360-461-4094.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
