Thanks to a nonprofit teaming up with a homebuilder, U.S. Army veteran David Speights and his fiancée, Ashleigh Rankin, got the keys to their new mortgage-free home last week.

They arrived from Waco to receive the home from Building Homes for Heroes, a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping veterans find their way back to civilian life after their service in the military.

Following a procession led by the Princeton Fire Department and the Princeton High School Panthers marching band playing the Army theme song, “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” the couple drove up to their new home located in Whitewing Trails in Princeton Friday, Nov. 11.

It was a well-attended ceremony hosted by Bryan Swindell, division president of Pulte Homes that included Savannah Ramsey singing the National Anthem under a tent in the driveway of Speights’ new two-story home.

The ceremony was not only meant to honor veterans such as Speights who saw combat while on active duty in Afghanistan, it honored individuals who were instrumental in the build.

Those in attendance to watch the couple receive the home included employees of Atlanta-based Pulte Group, representatives of Building Homes for Heroes, Lowe’s, the Patriot Guard Riders, Mayor Briana Chacon and more.

During the ceremony, Swindell told the crowd that the Speights-Rankin home is the 75^th such house that Pulte has built to honor a deserving veteran and it is the ninth such home the company has built in North Texas.

Swindell said the company held a golf tournament earlier this year and raised $25,000. He said the couple would receive the money, which would pay property taxes and homeowner association dues “for years to come.”

Vice President Kimberly Vesey of Building Homes for Heroes, the nonprofit responsible for selecting the veteran and funding the build, shared her story and the story behind the nonprofit. The Speights-Rankin home is the 310th home built by the nonprofit.

There were multiple surprises in store for the couple aside from the gift of a new home. What they did not know in advance of their taking possession of their gift was the extent to which the home they received would be fully furnished, with a refrigerator stocked with food.

“They went far beyond what they told us they would do for us,” Speights said.

After posing for pictures with dignitaries and others attending the ceremony, Speights, Rankin and their son entered the home with extended family following close behind.

“I was in complete amazement. It looked better than I ever imagined.”

David Speights

According to Macey Kessler, director of communications for Pulte Homes, Speights and Rankin picked the design of their new home.

Kessler said prior to receiving the finished home, “the last time he [Speights] saw it was when it was being framed.”

“We started doing this about a decade ago,” said Kessler, who added that Pulte has worked with Building Homes for Heroes on previous projects such as what took place on Veterans Day. Kessler said the program actually got its start in Pulte Homes’ Dallas division.

“Building Homes for Heroes finds the veteran,” Kessler said, “and determines where they want to live. They work with the veteran.”

Speights and Rankin returned to Waco over the weekend, as Speights said, to “pick up some more of our stuff.”

And then they will begin their new life together.