Fisher House Foundation

Fisher House Foundation
Founded 1990
Founder Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher
Type Non-Profit Organization
Focus Service members, veterans and their families
Location
Method Construction of comfortable temporary lodging facilities near military hospitals and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers
Key people
 Kenneth Fisher, Chairman and CEO
Employees
25
Website www.fisherhouse.org

Fisher House Foundation is best known for a network of comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide, and in Europe, close to the medical center or hospital it serves. Fisher Houses have up to 21 suites, with private bedrooms and baths. Families share a common kitchen, laundry facilities, a warm dining room and an inviting living room. Fisher House Foundation ensures that there is never a lodging fee. Since inception, the program has saved military and veterans’ families an estimated $400+ million in out of pocket costs for lodging and transportation.

Fisher House Foundation also operates the Hero Miles Program, using donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members as well as the Hotels for Heroes program using donated hotel points to allow family members to stay at hotels near medical centers without charge. The Foundation also manages a grant program that supports other military charities and scholarship funds for military children, spouses and children of fallen and disabled veterans.

www.fisherhouse.org

History

Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher

The Fisher House program was founded in 1990, after Pauline Trost, wife of Admiral Carlisle Trost, former Chief of Naval Operations, made Zachary Fisher aware of the need for housing for military families during hospitalization of a loved one.

Zachary Fisher, a native of Brooklyn, began with modest beginnings, working in construction at an early age. Eventually, he and his brothers, Martin and Larry, joined forces to form Fisher Brothers, which grew into one of New York’s premier residential and commercial real estate developers, that continues to operate today. Throughout this life, Zach Fisher always had a profound respect and commitment to the armed forces and other philanthropic causes. A construction injury prevented Zach from serving, so he found other ways to give back to the armed forces, firefighters, police and he even established the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation. Zach was grateful to a nation which gave him so much and felt an obligation to give back.

After the Trost’s made Zach aware of the need for housing for military families during a medical crisis, Zach said, “I’m a builder…. we can do this.” The Fisher House idea was born – to build comfort homes on military bases, so families could stay free of charge, while a loved one received medical care at the hospital, far from home. The Fisher’s entered into a “public-private partnership” with the government, who allowed Zach to build on their land, and then the home was “gifted” back to the military, to operate in perpetuity. He helped ensure that families could have “a home away from home” enabling them to be a part of the healing process.

In 1991, the first Fisher House was opened, at the National Naval Medical Center (now Walter Reed Military Medical Center) in Bethesda, Maryland. President and Mrs. Bush joined Zachary Fisher, and his wife Elizabeth, to dedicate the house.

Because the Fisher House idea was so successful, Zach and Elizabeth continued to use their own money to build additional homes – one for the Army at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC; one for the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas; and this continued for years – Zach personally writing a check to pay for each home.

Today, Ken Fisher, Zachary’s grand-nephew continues the legacy and serves as the Chairman and CEO of Fisher House Foundation. Today, there are 76 Fisher Houses in operation.

Foundation mission statement

Fisher House Foundation, Inc. is an international, not-for-profit organization established to improve the quality of life for members of the military, veterans and their families. The Foundation builds comfort homes at military and VA medical centers and gifts them to the government. Other Quality of Life programs include the Hero Miles and Hotels for Heroes programs, ongoing assistance to Fisher Houses, scholarships, support for continuing rehabilitation initiatives, and individual assistance to members of the military and their families during a crisis.

See also

References

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