MAULDIN, SC - A team of home renovation professionals from the Home Builders Association of Greenville has completed a kitchen makeover for former Marine Sgt. Michael Batton and his family as part of the trade association’s commitment to the Wounded Warrior Project. The new kitchen will be unveiled at a 2 p.m. news conference on Monday, February 13, attended by Mauldin Mayor Dennis Raines and Major Charlie Hall, USMC, of the Wounded Warrior Regiment.
A team of HBA members led by Dillard-Jones Renovations LLC gutted the 1970’s style kitchen of Sgt. Batton’s Mauldin home and replaced it with a more open, functional plan with features including a tile floor, granite countertops, ample cabinets, stainless steel appliances and recessed lighting. Dillard-Jones Renovations provided design and renovation services, with products donated by Builders First Source, GBS Building Supply, Progress Lighting, Sherwin Williams, Oldcastle Surfaces, Greer Flooring Center, Gateway Supply Company and The Cook’s Station.
“As homebuilders, our passion is to provide people with the American Dream of homeownership,” said Robert Markel, 2012 president of the Home Builders Association of Greenville and owner of Hadrian Construction. “Without the service of veterans like Sgt. Batton who put their lives on the line for the rest of us, attaining that dream could never happen.”
Tom Dillard, president of Dillard-Jones Renovations, and leader of the HBA renovation team added, “This project is a special one for us. It truly is an honor to be able to give back to someone who has given so much for all of us.”
In September of 2006, Marine Sgt. Michael Batton was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq where he served as a headquarters platoon sergeant. During a mortar attack in December of that year, Batton sustained a traumatic brain injury, and was medivaced to Germany. Batton was granted permanent military retirement in April of 2011 and presently lives in Mauldin, SC with his wife, Sarah, and their two children, Jenna and Tyler.
The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) began when several veterans and friends - moved by stories of the first wounded service members returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq - took action to help others in need. What started as a program to provide comfort items to wounded service members has grown into a complete rehabilitative effort to assist warriors as they recover and transition back to civilian life. The program seeks to: raise awareness and enlist public aid for the needs of injured service members; help injured service members aid and assist each other; and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.
The Home Builders Association of Greenville is a professional trade association of 400-member companies representing the home building and light commercial construction industry in Greenville and Pickens counties.
