A Home for Our Heroes: Veteran Stories and a Website for Post 415
Updated: 3 days ago
A permanent home means more when you meet the people who would use it. For American Legion Babcock Ranch Post 415, those people are veterans with different experiences of service who now share a community in Southwest Florida.
We worked with Post 415 to create A Home for Our Heroes, a film about military service, friendship and the need for a permanent Veterans Community Center in Babcock Ranch. Alongside the main film, we created individual interview films and built a website where people can hear those stories, understand the campaign and find a way to help.
Six people, five conversations
The project features Karl Werrlein, Juan Colón, Brian Wancik, Nicolette Cochrane, and Mark and Jill Smith. Their conversations cover their time in the military, the relationships they have built and what it means to have other veterans around them.
There is a reason we enjoy interview work. When someone has the space to explain an experience in their own words, you get more than a summary. You hear how they remember it and see what matters to them. That personal connection is central to this project.
The nine-minute main film brings the conversations together around a shared purpose. The five individual films give viewers more time with each story, including Mark and Jill's conversation together. Someone can begin with the main film, then keep watching the people they want to hear more from.
One shared purpose, individual stories
The main film gives someone new to the campaign a place to begin. The individual interviews make it possible to spend more time with Karl, Juan, Brian, Nicolette, and Mark and Jill. Keeping both versions matters: the campaign has a clear introduction, and the people behind it are not reduced to a few short lines.
That balance carried through the project. We wanted the films to explain the need for a permanent home while still leaving space for the experiences and relationships that make the effort personal.
A place for all veterans
The campaign is working toward a permanent Veterans Community Center for all veterans and their families in Babcock Ranch, as well as a home for American Legion Post 415. It is a place to gather, find support and keep serving the community.
The interviews give that goal a human context. Instead of asking visitors to picture an unnamed group of people in a future building, the film introduces some of the veterans behind the effort. Their experiences help explain why a shared place matters.
Giving the films a home online
We also built homeforourheroes.org around the project. The website leads with the main film and gives visitors an easy way to explore the individual interviews. Campaign information, a donation link and a business sponsorship page sit alongside the videos, so people can move from watching to learning how they can help.
We worked with the Post on the wording and presentation, keeping the purpose clear: a future Veterans Community Center for all veterans and their families, as well as a permanent home for Post 415. The community information and resources to share or print give the Post one place to direct neighbors, local businesses and people discovering the effort for the first time.
For us, the website was part of the same storytelling job. Someone watching the film should be able to find out who the campaign serves, hear more from the veterans and learn about supporting the effort without piecing the information together elsewhere. The film, interviews and website give Post 415 a connected collection to share with neighbors, local businesses and potential supporters.
Watch their stories
We are grateful to the veterans who shared their experiences and to Post 415 for trusting us with this project. Watch A Home for Our Heroes here, then visit homeforourheroes.org to explore the individual interviews and learn more about the campaign.
