In the News

SPRINGFIELD — Lonnie Chappell was a Marine serving in Vietnam in 1966 when he was blown off the back of a truck in a bomb attack.

Chappell, 78, said Tuesday that his body has hurt every day since. He’s sought treatment for a bad disc in has back and uses a wheelchair to get around.

But he’s about to get additional modifications to the home he and his wife, Mary, share on Ferncliff Avenue. The help is coming from a new federally funded pilot program carried out by Springfield’s Revitalize Community Development Corp., also known as Revitalize CDC.

Revitalize CDC has been at the Chappell home before, partnering with employees from Blue Cross Blue Shield in 2017. Soon, the Chappells will get more renovations both inside and out — including modifications to the bathrooms — so Lonnie is better able to get about on his own.

“I don’t think we would have been able to stay in the house without Revitalize CDC,” his wife, Mary Chappell, said. “We wouldn’t be here.”

Speaking at a press conference hosted at the Chappell home Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said it’s important that veterans are welcomed back into good neighborhoods like Springfield’s Sixteen Acres where the Chappells live. And, Neal said, that they can remain there as they age.

“We need to honor the contract we made with them when they signed up,” said Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “And now is the time for us to honor that contract.”

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno attended the gathering as well, praising the Chappell family for the commitment to Springfield.

Colleen Loveless, president and CEO of Revitalize CDC, said her group received $730,000 as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Veterans Rehabilitation and Modification Pilot Program.

As a pilot program, the funding is experimental. Revitalize CDC is one of just 10 organizations in the United States to get the grant.

Over three years, Loveless said the CDC will rehab 51 homes across the state of Massachusetts making them safer, more comfortable and modifying them for veterans living with disabilities. To qualify, a veteran must meet income guidelines and present proof of an honorable discharge.

The program is primarily, but not exclusively, for veterans living with disabilities.

The veterans' disability need not be service connected.

Loveless said she already has 100 applications for the 51 slots.

“And we haven’t’ really done the outreach yet. We have met with our veterans group partners around the state,” she said, adding: “There is just a huge need for help.”

Those partners include the Bilingual Veterans Outreach Centers of Massachusetts, Inc., Springfield Partners for Community Development which does energy efficiency upgrades, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations and the Public Health initiative.