Fisher House support high

Progress toward construction of a Fisher House near the base hospital has come a long way.
Support for the project has been stunning, said Fisher House of the Emerald Coast Inc. Vice President Trecia Chedister.

“The community is reaching out to us and not making us reach out to them,” she said.
The Eglin Air Force Base Fisher House will provide no-cost lodging for families of servicemen receiving treatment at the base’s hospital.
Fisher House of the Emerald Coast is a nonprofit. Donations to it are tax-deductible.
Among upcoming events are a site-location tour and a meeting with the architecture firm that will design the home.

Crestview’s Bob Lynn, an Emerald Coast Fisher House board member, said the local Fisher House will be a 12-suite facility with shared space, such as a dining room.
To match surrounding buildings, it might end up being a single-story structure, which is atypical but would make it very accessible.

Fisher House of the Emerald Coast’s goal is to raise $2.5 million, according to Lynn. The money would be used as a sort of endowment to ensure upkeep of the house after it’s built.
Though tentative, Lynn said, construction could start in late spring or early summer 2008 with a groundbreaking ceremony.

“It’s less than a year away … that’s why we have to get to work (raising money),” he added.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the house could happen in February 2009.
“It isn’t a dream anymore,” Lynn said about the local Fisher House. “It is a reality.”