ABOVE: Bravo Zulu House Servant Leader Tim Murray, right, talks to some members of Housing First Minnesota about the building progress on Friday. The organization came down to present a $100,000 check to go toward the project.

FAIRMONT– Work continues to happen on the Bravo Zulu House both at the site and behind the scenes. On Friday the Bravo Zulu House and some of its supporters got a visit from Housing First Minnesota representatives, who brought with them a $100,000 check to go toward the project.

Groundbreaking on the all-military sober home, located in northern Martin County, happened in May of 2024. At that time the plan was to remodel an existing house, but plans have since changed and a 13 bedroom, 5,000 sq.ft. shouse (shed-house) is now being built to house the men and the existing house will be used for guests who come to visit them.

Framing for the house went up late this past fall and now just a few short months later, progress is truly visible. In addition to that, Servant Leader Tim Murray has been busy behind the scenes working to secure the funds needed not only for the building itself, but for the 13 dog kennel and hydroponic faming equipment, both of which will serve as therapy for the men.

All in all, $1.2 million has been needed with about $1 million already raised through monetary and in-kind donations and a recent donation pushed the project closer to its end goal.

Housing First Minnesota, an organization that builds and remodels transitional housing for Minnesotans in need and is based out of Roseville, a Twin Cities suburb, recently committed $100,000 to the project.

Senior Director of Community Impact, Sofia Humphries, shared why they selected the Bravo Zulu House as a project to support.

“We do a lot of work within the veteran community in the Twin Cities area and one of our board members had heard about this project because she was familiar with its parent organization, Trinity Sober Homes,” Humphries explained. “She and one of our project committee members both said, ‘hey there’s this really wonderful project happening down in southern Minnesota that we should take a look at.”

Humphries said they met with Murray and one thing led to the next. As the organization already does a lot of work with veterans, she said it was a natural fit for them to get involved.

The Bravo Zulu House is one of five projects Housing First Minnesota is supporting in 2025 and Humphries said they’re excited to branch out to other areas around the state that are in need.

“This is a really innovative project and incredibly needed. It was a very easy project to garner support for,” she said.

Murray was appreciative of the gift, but also of its source and what that means for the project and community as a whole.

“When you get large Twin Cities non-profits giving you six figure donations, there’s a pretty clear, good housekeeping stamp of approval on that,” Murray said.

On Friday several others involved in Housing First Minnesota were able to tour what’s standing of the Bravo Zulu House around the plumbing and electrical work that’s taking place on the interior of the building.

“It’s all going to go up in rapid succession over the next eight weeks,” Murray said.

There are less than 100 days until the grand opening date of May 28 and he believes they should be ready to go but pointed out many projects do not usually meet their goal date but that the Bravo Zulu House should be within 30 days of it.

Murray does not expect that they will have problems filling the house as Trinity Sober Homes is already in contact with about 300 treatment centers across the country and making more connections everyday. There is also a high demand for an all-military sober home and Bravo Zulu House plans to specifically address both addiction and PTSD.

Martin County’s Veteran Services Officer, Doug Landsteiner, spoke highly of the project and the need it’s filling.

“It’s definitely one of the better things to come to Martin County and veterans here and around the area will certainly take advantage of it,” he said.