Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping veterans and first responders, has gifted its first smart home on the West Coast to a veteran and his family in Coupeville.

The smart home program is one of the organization’s many services dedicated to helping America’s heroes. It offers mortgage-free smart homes to the country’s “most catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.” The homes are each designed to meet the recipient’s needs and help them reclaim their independence, in line with the organization’s mission statement. Each home is also meant to support the family members of the veteran or first responder, as they, too, have been impacted by their injury, the organization states.

Terry Knight, a veteran diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, was the recipient of a smart home in a peaceful neighborhood in Coupeville. He celebrated moving in with his wife and two kids during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 20.

Knight joined the Navy Reserve as a senior at Oak Harbor High School in 1985, stationed as an air crewman at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. He later transitioned into the role of a combat engineer and then a combat medic. Throughout his service, Knight worked in different parts of the United States, Korea and Iraq.

Knight received his official diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 2013 when he was a combat medic in the Army Reserve. His options were grim, and he was told he had only a few years left to live. Studies indicate that people who have served in the military are at a higher risk of developing the disease, according to mayoclinic.org. Though the reason for developing the disease is unclear, some theories point to exposure to certain chemicals or viral infections, the website states. Despite the odds, today at 58 years old, only Knight’s right hand, arm and shoulder mobility are weakening. Additionally, his lungs and throat are down to 65% capacity, affecting his breathing and his swallowing.

Shortly after his diagnosis, Knight was medically retired from the army in 2014, with his baby daughter born just two months before.

With no missing limbs, Knight said he didn’t expect to be a smart home recipient when he applied four years ago. But, knowing his body will degrade over time, he will eventually need to navigate his house in a wheelchair, communicate without speaking and adjust lights, locks and more with immobile hands, he explained. He is blessed and humbled to have an ADA accessible house that will accommodate his growing needs, on a stunning property alongside his wife and kids, he added.

“This is kind of a homecoming for us because I actually grew up in Oak Harbor here,” Knight told the community members who came to witness the family moving in. “I never thought we’d have the opportunity to come back to Whidbey Island.”

“Welcome to the neighborhood,” someone hooted from the crowd. This was met with fervent applause.

While the home was hand-selected by the Knights, the foundation contracted Van Pelt Construction LLC to completely remodel the house and comply with the nonprofit’s accessibility requirements. Having completed many disability-accessible homes before, co-owner Matt Van Pelt said his team, along with subcontractors, were able to almost entirely gut the house and transform the kitchen, bathrooms, lights, walls, heated flooring and more in a speedy 85-day turnaround.

Van Pelt Construction donated a brand new washer and dryer, completely re-insulated the house from underneath, installed some flooring and more, all on the company’s own dime. As a veteran himself, Van Pelt said, “I just couldn’t leave it. So we went ahead and did it.”

The house hosts exceptional features that boost independence, such as special showers to accommodate wheelchairs, a lowering stove top, smartphone or iPad control of the whole house and more.

Knight expressed his gratitude to those who have who donated to the foundation so he and his family could have the home of their dreams.

“It makes you think that God has a plan,” Knight said. “We’re really honored.”

To learn more about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and donate to its cause, visit t2t.org.

(Photo by Marina Blatt) Terry Knight embraces Matt Van Pelt, whose team finished the house in 85 days to ensure the Knights could have it before Christmas.

(Photo by Marina Blatt) Terry Knight and his family are overwhelmed with happy emotions as they receive their new home.

(Photo by Marina Blatt) Terry Knight’s new smart home lies in a peaceful neighborhood in Coupeville. The smart home program is one of the organization’s many services dedicated to helping America’s heroes. The homes are each designed to meet the recipient’s needs.