In The News
August 19, 2013

Faithful Warriors Ministry pressure washes veterans home

Kileen Daily Herald – KDHNEWS.com

Herald/Matthew Dunegan

On Saturday, Duane Hampton, pastor and Nolanville city councilman, worked with 10 volunteers from the Faithful Warriors Ministry of Northside Baptist Church in Nolanville to pressure wash the William R. Courtney Texas State Veterans Home in Temple.

Located near the Veterans Hospital, the Texas State Veterans Home was built as an independent facility 13 years ago.

When the Texas State Veterans Home called for an estimate, Hampton offered to rally his crew of active duty and retired service members to clean the sidewalks, masonry, siding, eaves and rafters of the nursing home exterior for free.

After 21 years of service as a motor pool maintenance technician, Hampton retired 1½ years ago from the Army as a chief warrant officer-3. Hampton has worked for Hotsy Carlson Industrial Cleaning in Killeen for the past 8 months.

Not only did a cleaning crew pitch in, but also Pastor Olton Phillips and several families of Northside Baptist came to support and minister to the veterans and grill hamburgers for the volunteers who helped.

“We played bingo with the residents, shared the gospel, talking with them and trying to be an encouragement,” added Hampton’s wife Lisa.

Their ministry is to reach out to soldiers, retirees, and veterans and talk with them about salvation, she said.

“If their husbands are deployed, we try to help the families back here with anything they might…need,” Lisa Hampton said.

Twice a year Duane Hampton’s personal business, Everclean Home and Business Solutions, and several church volunteers pressure wash headstones at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

“They gave so much, that’s the least I can do,” Duane Hampton said. “We’re trying to do a little bit more and give back to them.”

Billy Hall helps with each of these projects, and said he helped Duane Hampton start Faithful Warriors Ministry. Since his retirement from the Army, Hall serves as an administrator with Northside Baptist, helping coordinate the ministry and outreach services.

Activity Director Carolyn Rumfield is pleased with the service Hampton and his crew offered, and especially proud of the veterans she serves.

“I have a Pearl Harbor survivor, a D-Day survivor, and an Iwo Jima survivor,” Rumfield said. “The stories you can learn just talking to these guys, history books don’t even hold a candle to.”

Rumfield has been at the nursing home for the past six years.

“The majority of the VA Nursing Home’s population are vets who served during WWII, then the Korean War, a few from the Vietnam War,” she said. “Now, (there’s) a handful of veterans from the Second Iraq War who need care.”

Wilton Easter, 89, an Army veteran who served in North Africa and Italy during World War II was pleased and honored by the volunteers’ work.

“They did a first class job,” Easter said. “I mean first class. They got a lot of equipment and they work hard.”

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