Rockford veteran receives donated home from Marshmallow’s HOPE

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — A Rockford army veteran received a new home donated by the nonprofit group Marshmallow’s HOPE on Monday.

Marshmallow’s HOPE was founded by Laura Kane and John Voiles. The group works to prevent suicide among teens, veterans, current service members, and first responders.

The outfit started Project 4114 in 2023, an honorary project in memory of Zachary Birkholz and Caden Pritz, whose lives were lost to suicide. The plan was to acquire a home from Winnebago County, use volunteers to fix it up, and donate it to a local veteran.

They had initially planned to have the home, on Lakin Terrace, finished by Veterans Day 2023, but the project hit several significant snags along the way.

A sweepstakes was held in early January 2024 to find an eligible candidate, and Brad Scoville won the home giveaway.

“I’ve known about it for about a year and a half, and to this day, it’s still surreal. Until I pull into the driveway for a couple of months, I’ll still be grinning from ear to ear, wondering how I pulled this off,” Scoville said.

Ultimately, 40 volunteers participated in restoring the house.

The group hosted a ribbon-cutting for the finished house on Monday morning.