MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Reggie Chapman grew up in a white stucco house in Stuart.
As he opened up the door of that white stucco house, and showed WPTV inside, Chapman looked around at what is now a skeleton; with beams reaching to the rafters, piles of insulation and blue tarps littering the floor.
"My dad built this house in 1976, it's been in the family ever since," Chapman said. "Lots of changes."
As he takes it in, it's with a heavy heart that he explains why that white stucco house turned black nine months earlier.
"Mental illness. It’s a lot to deal with," Chapman said.
In December, Chapman said he took in his oldest son off the street, who he said long struggled with mental illness and was off his medication.
On Dec. 17, Chapman said his son went into a fit of rage and started yelling. When Chapman asked him who he was yelling at, he told WPTV, his son grabbed a heavy metal engine hoist and started beating him with it.
Chapman said his son then doused him and his family home in gasoline and then set it on fire.
"I was terrified," Chapman said. "Emotionally, everyday, it's sort of hard to deal with. You think of all the times he was little, for him to do this to me, it's unfathomable, you know?"
Chapman escaped and Martin County Fire Rescue crews said he was airlifted to the hospital with significant injuries.
Yet Chapman's home was choked with smoke, while his irreplaceable memories were suffocated into cinders.
“Love letters my dad sent my mom while he was in the service were there in a box," Chapman said, pointing to a room that belonged to his mother. "They got destroyed."
As crews came to help, Martin County Fire Captain Nick Bates soon realized that the white stucco house looked familiar.
"You pull up and you're like, man, I've known this guy since he was a child, he’s my friend, you know?” Bates said.
Bates said Chapman used to work for his father on his father's boat, and added he knew he had to help him.
Between their 12 hour shifts, Bates and his crew, with the help of Habitat for Humanity, started rallying the community, including architects and electricians.
Together, they collected donations, and over the past nine months, volunteered to help gut Chapman's home, remove all the fire damage, install insulation, and begin to rebuild.
"Just kind of felt the need to help him out," Bates said.
"The chance to help someone stay in a house that’s affordable? That’s a win for us as well," Mike Readling, executive director of Martin County's Habitat for Humanity, said."
Readling said when he heard Chapman's story, the project was beyond the wheelhouse of what the nonprofit normally does, but like Bates, felt compelled to help.
"It struck me as something that was important, it seemed like, if we were going to do something outside of our scope, this is the type of project we would do," Readling said.
"We were able to do what we’ve done so far, but everything’s kind of slowed down," added Bates.
That's why Martin County Fire Rescue and Habitat for Humanity want to get the word out.
The donations that poured in are now running dry, and dry wall that was donated needs professional hands for installation, something the firefighters said they're not equipped to do themselves.
"We’re trying to get this to the finish line and that’s the next big step," said Bates. "If you ask, people are going to show up. You know, we’re a community and we’re supposed to be here for each other.”
For Reggie, he's still gutted.
That effort to rally the community once more is the reason Chapman, as he stood in his skeleton house, felt his heavy heart begin to lift. Despite the pain he still feels, he sees the support of a community reflected in each and every new beam, giving a skeleton new life, and a man who felt broken the strength to now stand.
"Does that give you hope?" asked WPTV's Kate Hussey.
"Yes, it does," Chapman said. "I hope some day I can give back."
To this day, Chapman still deals with physical ailments from the attack. His hands are still injured from putting his hands up to defend himself, and he still has damage to one eye.
His home also still has a lot of work to go before it can become livable. Bates said they still need help leveling floors, rebuilding his kitchen and bathroom and installing dry wall. All of that requires time, money, and hands that are willing to do the work.
To donate financially to Chapman's cause, click here.
Those who have a service that can help Chapman, can email Kate Harper at kharper@habitatmartin.org or call 772-223-9940.
