The Simmons family was the 3rd veteran home that HFH has done. This family has an amazing story. Troy was a Navy veteran from the Desert Storm/Desert Shield war. The family lived in New Orleans until 2005 when they moved to Indianapolis. Their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and they lost everything. Through the help of family they were able to make the move. They are extremely grateful for the assistance of Habitat for Humanity.

I arrived and was greeted by several of the HFH staff. They were looking for me. I didn't realize I was expected to say a few words, so I prepared a little speech in my head as the other presenters spoke, and then promptly forgot most of it when it was my time to step up and speak to the press and others that were gathered there. I did tell the family how pleased we were to give them the games for their new home and thanked Habitat for the opportunity to work with them. I told a bit about our organization. However, I failed to mention that the games were selected to meet the age appropriate needs of the family or about our work in New Orleans, which would have tied in nicely with this family especially.

The 7 year old daughter of the family, Toryion, was smiling and happy during the entire presentation. But when I handed her the wrapped stack of games (I had wrapped them in transparent wrap with a bow), she started jumping up and down. Then I walked back to the crowd as the next presenter was announced, and I looked back to see the girl hiding her face in her mom's skirt. When she looked up again, there were tears in her eyes and she looked up to her mom and said "I'm just so happy".