Marine Corps News Room

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=676144

By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 17, 2007

The Navy Seabee was finishing up a 10-month tour of Iraq last year when his wife, Nicki, asked if he wanted to go on a vacation after returning home from the desert.

With five teenagers at home and not much extra money to go around, Craig Nelson e-mailed his wife back and said they couldn't afford a vacation.

"I said, 'What if we can do it for free?' and he said, 'Let's do it,' " said Nicki Nelson.

Less than a week after Craig Nelson returned to his home near Peoria, Ill., last October from the war, he and his wife drove up to Egg Harbor and spent several days by themselves visiting Peninsula State Park and eating at local restaurants. Trading the sand, dust and heat of Iraq for the changing colors of bucolic Door County was the tonic Craig Nelson needed to change from his military life as a construction mechanic at Balad Airbase, north of Baghdad, to his civilian life as a husband and father.

"It was quiet, it was peaceful and it was just wonderful," said Nicki Nelson. "It was nice to get away from the hubbub so he could breathe for a while."

The Nelsons didn't pay for their lodging or meals, and were able to buy souvenirs to bring back to their family, courtesy of a little-known program started by a couple who wanted to give returning veterans something they sorely need - a vacation.

The idea of donating vacation time at vacant cottages, cabins and condos in Door County hit Don Rubin and his wife, Barbara Winer, as they stood outside their Fish Creek home and looked at the dozen other homes on their block. Many were empty much of the year.

"We thought, 'Why can't some of these be donated for military troops coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan as a way of thanking them for what they did?' " said Rubin, a tax attorney who lives in Highland Park, Ill.

And that's how Operation Welcome Homes started in 2005.

So far, with not much publicity, Rubin has signed up a couple dozen cottage owners, as well as resorts, inns and motels in Door County, and given about 50 military families - the majority from Wisconsin - a chance to get away and reconnect with each other. Operation Welcome Homes has also arranged for a few veterans to have time-share stays at Disney World and Daytona Beach.

Since many service members are cash-strapped when they return from the war, particularly National Guard and Reserves members whose civilian paychecks take a hit when they're mobilized, Operation Welcome Homes also provides certificates for meals and souvenirs.

"We thought if we gave someone a vacation opportunity but if they didn't have money to spend, they would be prisoners in their house," said Rubin. "So we tackled that problem and we've gotten a lot of help from local retailers."

Many business owners in Door County have donated meals, cruises and gift certificates, said Liz Moriarty, who coordinates the program in Door County.

Though the program has a Web site - operationwelcomehomes.org - many military families have found out about the program through word of mouth.

Gregg Kulma learned of the program through the Door County Visitors Bureau and decided to donate the use of three 50-year-old log cottages he owns in Ephraim. A military family stayed five days at one of the cottages this summer and was able to walk to nearby parks, the harbor and downtown Ephraim.

"I'm lucky that I haven't had to serve and my son hasn't had to serve. I guess it's our way of paying back the servicemen who are serving in difficult times," said Kulma, who lives in Downers Grove, Ill. "It's a beautiful area in Door County. I hope they feel good about what they've been doing as a result of staying at our place."

Moriarty gets several vacation dates from military families and then works from a list of lodging donors to find families a place to stay when they can get away. It's more difficult to find openings during the busy summer and fall seasons, but Moriarty has managed to find a place to stay for returning veterans at their available times.

The military members who want to use the program are usually those who couldn't otherwise afford a vacation to Door County, she said.

Moriarty met Rubin and Winer when she owned a coffee shop in Fish Creek. She agreed to help coordinate the program since she lives in Door County and Rubin and Winer live in Illinois. There was a deeper connection for Moriarty, too. Her father, a Vietnam veteran, died from Agent Orange-related tumors.

"I have lots of childhood memories of an angry, poorly received veteran coming home, so this program resonated with me," said Moriarty. "This is really about the soldiers and about soldiers who couldn't otherwise afford a vacation. We realize this is a tangible way to thank them."

Rubin has donated the use of his four-bedroom, two-bath Fish Creek house five times to military families and said the house is often left cleaner than when the service members arrived. Some veterans bring their spouse, while others come with their whole families. Operation Welcome Homes matches them up with the right-size unit - everything from bed and breakfasts and condos to cottages and hotels.

Phil Berndt, membership director of the Door County Visitors Bureau, has helped spread the word among property owners.

"Everybody's heart has been in the right place. They have a compassionate and enthusiastic group of volunteers. There have been zero problems," Berndt said. "The owners I've been able to contact are absolutely thrilled they have been able to participate."

For the Nelsons, who had never heard of Door County before their Operation Welcome Homes vacation, the respite was just what they both needed. They enjoyed eating apple pie, poking through shops, visiting lighthouses and Peninsula State Park, and they loved the solitude. Now that they've experienced Door County, they plan to go back someday.