CHESAPEAKE, Va. — It’s a backyard makeover designed to welcome home a hero. And on Sunday, the Hann family of Chesapeake came home to a special reveal.
“It’s a huge team that makes this thing happen, but we were back here taking down trees. It was just a complete mess," said Bobby Earley of Give A Hero’s Welcome.
For the third year in a row, Mike’s Hard Lemonade partnered with FM99 and the Boot Campaign to put a smile on an active military family’s face — transforming backyards into mini getaways.
This year’s recipient is the Hann’s family. Jasmine Hann’s husband is in the Navy, and organizers of Give A Hero’s Welcome said Jasmine herself is a big sweetheart. They described her as the type of person who loves to give with expecting nothing in return.
So this year, volunteers wanted Hann and her family to be the one receiving a gift.
“They’ve been having some struggles recently. They have a son with severe autism. So, what we decided to do was give him a calming area where he can kind of just sit back. When he’s having some of those stressful moments, just sit back and look at the beautiful water feature and just calm down a little bit," said Earley.
According to organizers, this year’s makeover is worth $200,000 in materials and the work done in the this year’s backyard alone was worth around $60,000.
“I mean you can say thank you a thousand times and I’m so grateful, but none of that is even a slither of how grateful you are for all of the work that they’ve done,” says Jasmine Hann, recipient.
The backyard transformation took two weeks to complete with the help of about 20-25 volunteers.
Overwhelming gratitude, excitement and joy from a family who said they’re undeserving but still can’t wait to enjoy their new and improved backyard.
