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BOWMAN ASHE PHOTOGRAPHY

Supporting Veterans

A

Michigan will gain two
Fisher Houses to aid
families of vets at
VA hospitals.

BOWMAN ASHE PHOTOGRAPHY

Alan Muskovitz

TOP: The Walter Reed Fisher House — one of
the beautiful designs typical of Fisher Houses
throughout the country.
BOTTOM: A typical bedroom in a Fisher House
suite; this one is in Greater Los Angeles.

n important addition
to Detroit’s burgeoning
urban landscape will
have an indelible impact on
Michigan veterans and their
families and a proud Jewish
component at its core.
With approval offi-
cially secured by the U. S.
Department of Veterans Affairs
and the Maryland-based Fisher
House Foundation (FHF), fund-
raising efforts can now begin to
bring a Zachary and Elizabeth
M. Fisher House to Detroit.
To be located within walking
distance of the John D. Dingell
VA Medical Center, Fisher
House Detroit will provide, at
no charge, a comfortable and
secure “home away from home”
residence for family members
who must travel outside a
normal daily commute to visit
loved ones being treated at the
hospital.
Fisher House was the brain-
child of prominent Jewish New
York real estate mogul and
philanthropist Zachary Fisher
of blessed memory. After a leg
injury prohibited him from
active duty during WWII,
Fisher began what would be a
lifetime dedicated to the well-
being of our men and women

in uniform.
The announcement of the
Detroit location now means
that two of Michigan’s five VA
medical centers will be the
beneficiaries of Fisher Houses.
Plans for Michigan’s first
Fisher House at the VA Ann
Arbor Healthcare System were
unveiled in 2016 with ground-
breaking expected next year.
The Detroit and Ann Arbor
locations are welcome news
to the 650,000 veterans in
Michigan. Both houses will be
overseen by the umbrella orga-
nization Fisher House Michigan
and will bring to almost 80
the total number of Fisher
Houses located at military and
VA medical centers across the
nation. Fisher House is also
making an impact internation-
ally with homes now open in
Great Britain and Germany.
Fisher Houses have up to 21
suites that include private bed-
rooms and baths. The families
in residence share a common
kitchen, laundry facilities, a
dining room and a living room.
The Detroit Fisher House is
projected to provide 16 suites.

FISHER HOUSE HISTORY

Since the doors of the first

two Fisher Houses opened
in 1991, more than 335,000
families have benefited from
more than 8 million days of
free lodging, representing a
savings of an estimated $407
million in out-of-pocket costs
for the military, patients and
their families. CharityWatch,
an independent philanthropic
watch dog, names Fisher House
as one of only three military
charities with an A+ rating.
Most recently, Fisher House
Michigan (FHM) was awarded
the GuideStar Platinum Seal of
Transparency.
For his decades-long com-
mitment to U.S. armed forces
and the community at large,
founder Zachary Fisher has
been recognized by five U.S.
presidents, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secre-
tary of defense, former British
Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and the late Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. In
1998, President Clinton award-
ed Fisher our nation’s highest
civilian honor, the Presidential
Medal of Freedom and, a year
later, conferred upon him the
status of an honorary veteran
in the U.S. Armed Services. This
latter recognition has previ-

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April 26 • 2018

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