While visiting Hilton Head Island, S.C., from Columbus, Ohio, Grant Evans was surprised by all of the soldiers he saw in the airports and on local TV saying goodbye to their families before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Evans thought it would be great if these military families could go on vacation and reconnect after their long deployments. He and his wife, Mia, own a condo on Hilton Head that sits empty for most of the year -- the rest of the year they're in Columbus where Evans works as a chiropractor. So the couple decided to offer their condo to a military family to enjoy free for a week after returning from deployment.
The idea quickly caught on, and soon Beach Properties of Hilton Head, the company that manages the Evanses' condo, had rounded up 60 other condo owners who wanted to donate the use of their homes to military families.