Hero’s Bridge Village:
Where Innovation Meets Need

Hero’s Bridge’s programs work cohesively to help aging veterans remain in their homes. But not every veteran can age in place and for them, we are building the Village.

The Village is a pocket community that will occupy a four-acre vacant lot adjacent to the Warrenton United Methodist Church in the Business District of Warrenton, VA. The Village will be nestled among an existing residential community where most homes were built in the 1950s.

The 44 craftsman-style cottages in the Village are designed as duplexes placed into quads inviting the veterans to connect and support each other as they did during their time in service.

The quads will be around a shared open space with landscaped weaving sidewalks encouraging activity and fresh air.

Residents surrounding the common space will be invited to take part in its care, hereby enhancing their sense pride and ownership.

Residents will use walkways to access their mailboxes in the Community Center, further encouraging socialization. This deliberate all-pedestrian community encourages neighbors to easily know one another, find friendships or a helping hand.

Veterans ages 65 and older who would benefit from a supportive community will be eligible to live in the Village.

Hero’s Bridge already has a waitlist of 30 veterans, ages 67 to 93, for the project.

Prior military service, especially in combat, has been shown to greatly affect the aging process.

While some veterans do well, many others experience chronic illnesses from Agent Orange and other wartime exposures. The loss of a spouse, retirement, or illness often sends these heroes in a downward spiral and the military culture they know keeps them from asking for help. Everyday Hero’s Bridge receives calls from hospitals, emergency rooms, social services, churches, and other organizations asking us to help with an older veteran. We assist many of them in their own homes, but some situations are just too severe to help them where they are.

A safe, clean home is a basic necessity, essential to a human’s well-being. We have a responsibility to ensure every senior veteran has safe and supportive housing. For our older heroes, trying to sustain big, unmanageable houses can be what tips the scales from independence to dependence.

Hero’s Bridge Village will be the first of its kind community dedicated exclusively to aging veterans to lift our aging veterans out of substandard living conditions and social isolation.

The Hero’s Bridge Village will radically change the lives of these veterans as well as the culture of our community.

Our veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam have already given so much, the least we can do for them is provide affordable and supportive housing.