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CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - The first of three major building projects designed to benefit Wounded Warrior Battalion East begins with a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a Fisher House on base here this Friday at 9 a.m. Camp Lejeune is proud to lead the way in being the first Marine Corps installation to have a Fisher House on its grounds.

The goal of every Fisher House is to provide "a home away from home" for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. This particular Fisher House will be the first structure of a multi-building complex that will also include a new Wounded Warrior Barracks and Wounded Warrior Care Center.

The house design calls for 12 bedrooms, a common double kitchen, laundry facilities, family room, and meeting spaces. A Fisher House is a temporary residence for the families of injured personnel and is not a treatment facility or counseling center.

The Fisher House Foundation, a non-profit organization, has saved military and veterans families more than $110 million since the first house was built at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center in 1990. More than 2.5 million nights of lodging have been spent at Fisher Houses and because Fisher House Foundation pays the lodging fees, no families are charged to stay at a DoD Fisher House. For more information, visit www.fisherhouse.org.

Guest speakers for the Fisher House groundbreaking ceremony include, Col. Gregory Boyle, commanding officer, Wounded Warrior Regiment, Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commanding general, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Maj. Gen. Robert C. Dickerson, commanding general, Marine Corps Installations East and Mr. Kenneth Fisher, chairman and CEO of the Fisher House Foundation.