Organizers plan to open the Fisher House in September 2017 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Dayton VA.
An architectural design has not been chosen, but the two-story, brick house will be compatible with the buildings on the historic campus, according to Chris Stanley, area executive director of the non-profit Fisher/Nightingale Houses Inc.
“We want it to look like a home,” the retired Air Force senior master sergeant said Monday. “It’s not a hotel. It’s a home and we want it too look like a home and feel like a home.”
Families of veterans who receive medical care can stay at a Fisher House without charge while the patient is treated at the Dayton VA.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald endorsed plans for the home last week, which put it on a fast track for construction and near the top of a VA priority and Fisher House Foundation construction list, Stanley said.
The Fisher House Foundation would pay the rest of the cost. Randy Gunlock is the former president of RG Properties which developed Austin Landing, a retail and office complex in Miami Twp.
Ground breaking on the Fisher House is expected next spring, said Dayton VA Medical Center Director Glenn Costie. The VA would own and manage the donated home.
The Dayton Foundation and the Fisher/Nightingale Homes, Inc., have launched the fund-raising campaign.
Dayton VA officials are in talks with the State Historic Preservation Office to get permission to tear down two 19th-century vacant houses next spring and build the Fisher House on Maryland Avenue near Building 408, an office building.
“We’ve just begun this conversation (with state officials) and we’ll have to see how we do through the winter,” Costie said. “We hope that we’ll be able to get their support for this and show how we’re going to add value with the Fisher House.”
Building 220, a two-story, brick home built in 1885, was once a hospitality house but is now closed. Constructed in 1876, Building 221 is a two-story, beige home in need of structural repair.
Two alternative sites on the campus are available, officials have said.
Two Fisher Houses at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — one a 12-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot home and the other a nine-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house, have hosted about 20,000 families over more than two decades, Stanley said.
This year, nearly 950 families have stayed without charge at the two homes, he said.
How to help
The Dayton Foundation has an endowment fund for the project. Checks may be made payable to the Dayton VA Fisher House Fund #7748.
Donations may be sent to: The Dayton Foundation, 40 N. Main St., Suite #500, Dayton, OH 45423 or Fisher/Nightingale Houses Inc., P.O. Box 33871, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433.
Online donations may be made at www.daytonfoundation.org/DaytonVAFH.html.
About the Author