Shaggy is training to be a therapy dog. He'll live in the house.

HANCEVILLE — Sweating in the Hanceville heat, Jeremy Hogan looked and sounded like a man who doesn’t notice the inconvenience of a sweltering late-spring morning. The Saving Forgotten Warriors founder, a combat veteran himself, was too focused on the milestone moment before him: the official ribbon-cutting on a veterans housing project into which he’s poured a lot of his own sweat equity.

Hanceville leaders, supporters, and elected county and legislative officials gathered at the active construction site off Hopewell Road Friday to formally recognize progress toward the completion of Hogan’s vision: A transitional home for veterans who need a helping hand readjusting to life in the civilian world.

With support from property owner and local real estate agent Richard Neese, Hogan, the rest of the SFW team, and small cadre of hands-on volunteers have worked for months to renovate the first of what Hogan hopes will one day be a local network of assisted housing for veterans. Beginning with a duplex already at the site, SFW is customizing its first property to suit its new purpose, bringing the structure into ADA compliance and finishing out its completely renovated interior living space — including an area for a full-time resident manager who’ll be there to help whenever a vet needs an assist.

There’s still work to do, fixtures to deliver, and walls to paint, and for Hogan, the ribbon-cutting doesn’t mean the project’s reached the move-in-ready stage. But on Friday, it meant the chance to step back, assess the slowly-building groundswell of support for the project, and reflect on providing help where government doesn’t venture.

“There are growing pains, but we are shaping this so that the veterans who come here receive everything that they need,” he said. “There’s nothing they won’t be able to do, in terms of getting the help they need, in this house.

“We’re working with our veterans, and with local businesses, to focus on providing education, skills, and training. A lot of these guys come out of combat arms training and don’t have real-world experience. Put a gun in their hand, and they can handle it. But put a pen in their hand, and they’re lost. They need that skill training, and they’re not getting it now; it’s been dropped in the military, because we’re so focused on what’s going on overseas. But if you give veterans the right opportunity, they’re gonna succeed.”

When finished, the apartment will be able to house 12 veterans, with a duplex split arrangement that can accommodate both males and females. Another home sits ready for renovation at the property next door, giving SFW even more room to grow as local businesses and volunteers get on board.

Flanked by local officials including Alabama Sen. Garlan Gudger, Rep. Randall Shedd, associate county commissioner Garry Marchman, and most members of the Hanceville City Council, Hanceville mayor Kenneth Nail looked back at how far the project had progresses since hitting some minor early snags when leaders realized the property wasn’t zoned for group housing. He also made it clear that veterans have a standing, always-extended welcome in his town.

“It’s a great thing that they’ve taken on themselves to do, and it really shows where our values can take us when we work together,” said Nail. “I’m glad it’s in Hanceville, and we aim to show our local veterans the kind of hospitality that can’t fully repay what they’ve given for us, but that they definitely deserve.”

Hogan previously told The Times that he hopes to eventually expand the housing component of Saving Forgotten Warriors’ overall outreach mission, with plans to open additional housing locations elsewhere in Cullman County that address specific needs.

“[W]hen I started putting ideas for it together I envisioned it in phases,” he said in February. “We’ve got a site at Logan where we’d like to eventually put a 120-bed facility, but we need to start with a successful location at Hanceville and work our way forward. In the near term, we also have the possibility for more homes over in the Vinemont area — a property with three homes on one piece of land — and if we can do that, it’ll be closer to the middle or the end of this year.”

On Friday, surveying the faces of those who’ve supported the project all gathered to see the results for themselves, Hogan distilled Saving Forgotten Warriors’ mission; the essential goal the nonprofit has maintained since its founding four years ago: “We want to see our veterans taken care of in our community,” he said. “And I believe, with help from all of us, they can.”