Denver Fisher House serves military families in need in nine states

Denver Fisher House serves military families in need in nine states

Examiner

By Caryl Buckstein

05.25.13

Melanie Starkman knows the problem our soldiers face all too well.

As a teen, an active Marine with an ailing father in the military and finally, as a soldier recovering from her own injuries, Starkman faced major medical issues three times with little family support. As a child, her family stayed at the nearest motel 30 miles away while she was treated at Wilford Hall Medical Center as a military dependent for three weeks. “I didn’t have my parents available as a buffer,” she said in an interview Friday, May 24.

As a Marine, she drove on weekends from Quantico in Virginia to pick up her mother in southern Illinois to visit her father hospitalized with lung cancer in Chicago. She drove back to her base each Sunday night, after returning her mother home.

“There wasn’t anything like Fisher House available then,” said Starkman.

Today, she is proud to serve as CEO and executive director of Denver Fisher House. “It’s a way I have of giving back to my fellow Vets,” she said. The nine-room house serves a nine-state area.

Located on the Fitzsimons campus, Fisher House provides housing and support for military families. It allows them to be close to a loved one hospitalized for an illness, disease or injury.

The 60th Fisher House was recently completed in San Antonio, Texas. The international foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary in April. Fisher Houses are located in the United States, Germany and England.

Denver’s Fisher House is always full, said manager Joy Weyna-King. Demand is so great that a second Fisher house has been approved. Construction on a new 20-bed Fisher House is slated to begin in 2015, after completion of the new Veteran’s Administration Hospital on the Fitzsimons campus.

Denver Fisher House has raised $600,000 of its $3 million goal. The organization prefers that the community raise half of the funds for each new Fisher House.

Metro Denver supports its Fisher house in a number of ways. On Friday, The Fan radio station 104.3 kicked off the Memorial Day weekend with a golf tournament benefitting the nonprofit. Checks are sent directly to the house. People also can contribute through the ColoradoGives.org website. Donations also accepted by texting “noble” to 50155.

“I’ve met the most wonderful people,” said Weyna-King. “Some of them wouldn’t have been able to receive treatment without the Fisher House program. It’s the country’s best-kept secret.”