Kids & Family

HGTV, DIY Star to Landscape New Home for Disabled Temecula Veteran

Best known as the creative host on "Yard Crashers," Ahmed Hassan will provide the landscaping and yard makeover for a Temecula home being built for Army Staff Sgt. Wallace Fanene.

A home under construction in Temecula for a disabled Army veteran will get some added touches from a popular HGTV and DIY Network star, Ahmed Hassan, it was announced.

Best known as the creative host on “Yard Crashers,” Hassan will provide the landscaping and yard makeover for three homes—one in Temecula and two in El Cajon—being built and donated by Homes For Our Troops with the help of Volvo Rents, according to a news release issued Tuesday.

The new custom homes have been designed to provide the severely injured veterans with maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently.

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The Temecula project for Army Staff Sgt. Wallace Fanene, who returned from his second deployment to Iraq after losing his right leg and right lower arm in an IED explosion, is among 60 that Volvo Rents will have provided in conjunction Homes For Our Troops.

Hassan, a licensed landscape contractor accustomed to doing blitz style makeovers, will work with Homes for Our Troops, Volvo Rents, the veterans, their friends and families, as well as the volunteers and organizations involved in the local communities.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

An official kick-off event is scheduled for Sept. 7 site at the Temecula site. On hand will be Hassan, members of the Volvo Rents team, HFOT, and Fanene and his friends and family.

A husband and father, Fanene said the new custom home will “take away the last margin of struggle I have had to obtain my normal life again.”

Raised by parents who taught him to dream big and to do what you enjoy most in life, Hassan’s rural roots mixed with inner city upbringing give him the ability to connect with people of all walks of life and appreciate and admire those who work hard and sacrifice. A California native and resident, Hassan is on familiar grounds and working with familiar faces at Volvo Rents.

“I’ve been a long time customer of Volvo Rents,” said Hassan. “When I learned about their partnership with Homes for Our Troops and what they were doing to help better the lives our service men and women, I immediately decided to get involved. I knew this project and the cause driving it was something I could definitely help with.”

The two homes being built in El Cajon are for Marine Cpl. Travis Greene and Army Sgt. Odin Ayala. Greene returned home from his third deployment to Iraq when he sustained significant injuries during an IED attack while assisting in a med-evac of another wounded Marine. The injuries resulted in the amputation of both of Greene’s legs.

“Since partnering with Homes for Our Troops in 2011, we have had the opportunity to help build custom homes for nearly 50 veterans,” said Matt Tavianini, VP of Sales & Marketing for Volvo Rents. “It is something that resonates so deeply with all of us here and we could not be more grateful to not only work with our nation’s heroes, but to be able to give something back to them is invaluable.”

Additional sponsors donating everything from manpower to hand tools, to irrigation installation and funding for the projects include local businesses Hunter Industries, Village Nurseries, Corona Tools, and Genie Industries, according to the news release.


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