New local veterans home in Southeast Tennessee

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) — Southeast Tennessee now has a local veterans home. The state officially opened their new facility in Cleveland on Thursday.

The home has 108 beds. This means many local veterans will now be able to stay in the area instead of going to other facilities across the state.

This project has been 20 years in the making.

It took a lot of community support to pull off.

“Your unwavering commitment as a community, selfless contributions, boundless generosity… The generosity has been unbelievable; even the non-monetary. Just how we were treated when we were here and how we were welcomed into the community… been huge. We’re humbled by that,” said Ed Harries of the Tennessee State Veterans Homes.

It took 16 years to win the funding for the home and another four years to build it.