ROME, Maine — Significant work is underway this week at the former Elizabeth Arden estate on the Rome-Mt. Vernon line.
The Travis Mills Foundation is turning the 1920s mansion into a retreat for wounded veterans. Travis Mills is one of only five surviving quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His foundation hopes to open the retreat in 2017.
Thursday, volunteers from Home Depot installed 16 windows and four doors in one wing of the house.
“We have 10 Home Depot associates here who are all donating their time,” Charles Moore, a manager with Home Depot Exteriors, said. “We’ve worked with our vendor partners Anderson and wind corps to get the donation of the material, as well to help out this great project, the Travis Mills Foundation.”
In about three weeks, the Home Depot team hopes to install the rest. In all, they will donate more than 60 windows and a dozen doors. The volunteers are all from Maine and New Hampshire.
Also lending a hand Thursday were students from Hebron Academy. About a dozen teens raked leaves, stacked wood and moved equipment.
It was all part of the schoolwide day of service, where students pick an organization to volunteer with. Taylor Leech was among the volunteers to help the Travis Mills Foundation. “We know that there are a lot of veterans in Maine, and we thought that it’s definitely be beneficial to come here. Plus, we love the atmosphere of not just giving back to the veterans but their whole families as well,” Leech said.
The Travis Mills Foundation needs to raise about $2 million for the renovation project. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help collect donations.