Seven years ago, Dale Beatty and John Gallina were just doing their duty. Two years later, Garrett Garland was just pitching in to help a fellow veteran. And in late 2011, Chris Mulcahy was just attending a business reception.

Now those four local residents, along with many others, are connected and directly involved in what may be the fastest growing service organization dedicated to helping America's military veterans cope with life's battles away from the front lines.

Purple Heart Homes, co-founded in 2008 by Statesville residents and wounded veterans Beatty and Gallina, is dedicated to providing housing solutions for disabled veterans and their families. It began as a simple, friends-helping-friends project, was organized as growing, country-wide needs were discovered and, with a recent donation from Walmart and optimism about a potential partnership with Lowe's pushing more wind under its widening wings, Purple Heart Homes is poised to provide help to even more veterans in locations throughout the country.

Like so many triumphs, Purple Heart Homes is rooted in tragedy. In Iraq on Nov. 15, 2004, North Carolina National Guard Staff Sgt. Beatty and Specialist Gallina were on a mission when the Humvee they were in was shattered by an anti-tank mine. Gallina suffered devastating head and back injuries and Beatty's multiple injuries resulted in the amputation of both legs below the knee.

Medical treatment and rehabilitation addressed the physical wounds, and adjusting to new lives and new challenges laid the groundwork for what would grow into Purple Heart Homes. With support from the Iredell Homebuilders Association, Gallina and a host of volunteers — with Beatty assisting and assuming general contractor duties — constructed a barrier-free home for Beatty and his family. Huntersville businessman Garland, an Army veteran, heard about the project and, while serving as a member of the volunteer construction crew, met Gallina and Beatty.

Sometime later, when Gallina and Beatty began discussing the creation of Purple Heart Homes a few years later, they contacted Garland about joining their cause. He jumped at the chance and now serves as chairman of the organization's advisory council. Word of PHH efforts spread as various projects in nearby and far-off locations were completed. Television network news broadcasts applauded the group's achievements and Gallina and Beatty were among those featured on the cover of Time magazine in an issue dedicated to grassroots efforts to assist veterans.

From towns throughout the country, civic groups, service clubs and veterans organizations began contacting PHH representatives, asking about the process in general and specifically how to line up help for individual veterans in their towns.

"The word was really spreading," Garland says, "but around here a lot of people had no idea what the group was about."

At the one-year anniversary celebration for Currents magazine, Huntersville's Mulcahy met Beatty and Gallina, who were among the magazine's honored guests, and learned more details about Purple Heart Homes. Soon after, Mulcahy, operations manager of Citizen Distribution, LLC, an experienced builder and a Navy veteran who was a Seabee (a member of the Navy's construction battalions), nominated the group for a contribution through Walmart's "12 Days of Christmas" campaign. Right after Christmas, Purple Heart Homes and Mulcahy were notified that Walmart was donating $15,000 to the cause.

"After meeting the guys and hearing their story, I was blown away," Mulcahy says. "It just seemed like such a great cause so I sent in the nomination."

Since Christmas, Mulcahy has spent more time with Beatty, Gallina and others involved in the organization. He accompanied the PHH founders on a recent visit to Mooresville's Manpower to Horsepower — a program that provides motor sports industry training for disabled veterans — and this week Mulcahy joined the PHH advisory board.

"That's really the way it works," Beatty says during a brief conversation on his way to an appearance at a Houston, Texas, fundraiser for an injured veteran. "Once you're involved, you become part of the family."

And the PHH family is rapidly expanding. Beatty says the organization has been contacted by agencies, clubs and communities from California, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Iowa and other states. He recently returned from work on a home renovation program for a veteran in Georgia and he's currently coordinating plans for a "from the ground up" new home construction scheduled this spring in Connecticut.

"The word is spreading," he says. "More and more folks are finding out about us and contacting us to find out what they need to do to get their own projects under way."

Beatty says he believes the appealing aspects for PHH include the fact that it is designed to serve all disabled veterans and that it gives veterans a chance to help each other. "I think people, especially veterans, like the idea of helping veterans," he says. "And we are helping veterans of all eras. Many people think a program like this is focused on Iraq or Afghanistan veterans, but our assistance is available to all veterans."

The list of projects tackled by PHH include the construction of wheelchair ramps, extensive interior renovations and complete home constructions. And, in keeping with the family and service-to-others theme, Beatty, Garland and Mulcahy, in separate conversations, all mentioned the "pay if forward" characteristic of the program.

"Someone hears about a project and gets involved and that involvement feeds into another project," Beatty says.

"It's important to get the word out," Garland says, "because once people realize what this is about, they know it's something they want to be a part of."

And the word, and the involvement, is contagious.

"In the first year, we raised $11,000 to $12,000 for the projects," Garland says, "and, even in this economy, that amount has increased dramatically in the last few years."

Beatty says the organization experienced a 400-percent increase in support last year.

"During a time when charitable giving is down everywhere," he says, "I think that shows you the interest people have in helping veterans."

Beatty says finding those who need the group's help has been a struggle because, as a general rule, veterans are proud and reluctant to ask for assistance.

"These guys usually don't ask for things for themselves," he says, "so by the time we found out about some of these situations, things are pretty desperate. It's easy for veterans to feel isolated and get to the point where they don't know where to turn. But we're trying to get involved in any way we can."

He says the publicity the organization has received has helped make others aware of its services and that PHH is currently evaluating 70 individual cases to create a priority list for projects.

Garland, the businessman, is working on expanding the organization's network of support and believes the gift from Walmart could provide the impetus for more corporate participation. He and Beatty say a big lumber or parts supplier, which could provide items used for every type of PHH undertaking, would be a tremendous asset. And Garland, who has been involved in recent meetings with Lowe's, says he hopes a new product provided by the Mooresville-based home improvement giant will become a standard part of PHH's projects.

"They have a pre-fabricated ramp that could be installed in a few hours," Garland says. "That would be tremendous for us and it would be a great way for Lowe's to get their product out there for others to see."

Garland is also pondering a "$1,000 Club" program to give those interested in supporting Purple Heart Homes a convenient way to get involved by contributing a little more than $16 a month for five years.

"If we get 1,000 people to commit to that, in five years we would raise $1 million to help disabled veterans," he says. "Can you imagine that?"

With the interest and support for Purple Heart Homes steadily growing, it isn't too hard to imagine. Especially considering that, just a few years ago, these men and others involved in this project we're simply going about their lives, doing their duty, unaware of how their lives, and the lives of disabled veterans throughout the country, would eventually intertwine.

Want to know more?

The easiest way to learn more about — or contribute time, money or materials to — Purple Heart Homes is to visit www.purplehearthomesusa.org.