Operation R&R asks property owners to help military families

Bradford Zwetschke's six children already knew how they planned to spend their vacation before they arrived at their Hilton Head Island beach-front rental home Saturday afternoon.

The 12-year-old wanted to sleep in a dry swimsuit each night and jump in the pool the first thing in the morning and the last thing before bed.

The boys wanted to fish with their father, a chaplain at Hunter Army Airfield who is just excited to turn off his duty phone and be alone with his family. That's a rarity for the captain, who has been deployed twice to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The family's week-long stay in the 5-bedroom Sea Pines home would not have been possible without Operation R&R, an organization that works with local property owners and businesses to give military families free vacation lodging and other discounts on Hilton Head Island.

The Hilton Head group didn't think it would be able to accommodate Zwetschke in the offseason, when it typically arranges its vacations, but a private owner from Colorado recently decided to donate a stay in her South Beach home, which rents for $11,500 a week.

With donations down this year from property management companies, Operation R&R founder Grant Evans is beginning to reach out to more private owners like her in the hopes of serving families like the Zwetschkes.

Bradford's wife, Christina, said she almost cried when she heard the news about their June getaway, which falls on the couple's 15h anniversary.

"It was a huge answer to a heart prayer that I didn't even realize I was praying."

A NEW PUSH

While Operation R&R has helped more than 1,600 families in the nonprofit's five-year run, its program has been slowing.

The organization served only about 80 families from September 2014 to May, down from 240 at its peak, according to founder Grant Evans, a Hilton Head chiropractor.

The reason, Evans said, is dwindling interest and resources from some of the dozen short-term property management companies that partner with his nonprofit but have not contributed rentals in one or two years. Operation R&R seeks rentals available for four to seven nights.

In addition to sprucing up the list of participating partners, Evans plans to go straight to the source with a push for more help from individual owners.

Evans is looking for more people like Joan Young, the woman who donated the use of her South Beach home to the Zwetschkes.

"We think there are so many private owners out there that would love to donate if they knew about us," he said. "One of the reasons being so many are veterans, and they have sons and daughters in the military."

SOMEONE CARES

This week, the Zwetschke family will ride bikes on the island and visit the Art Cafe on Greenwood Drive and Zipline Hilton Head at Broad Creek Marina.

Christina, who home-schools her children, is excited to cook in a gourmet kitchen and look out over the water every day. The view was the first thing her oldest child noticed when the family checked in Saturday afternoon, exclaiming three times, "You can see the ocean!"

Before arriving at the home equipped with a pool, hot tub and several decks, she reflected on the hardships most military families face.

Bad luck tends to strike families while their military members are deployed, and many soldiers spend more time away than at home -- "boots at the door," as Christina Zwetschke says.

The most cliche trope is also one of the most true, she says. "We miss them, but they miss everything."

"I can at least hug my child who is a symbol of the love we have together, but the deployed soldier has no one," she said.

One of the hardest things military members contend with comes after their return from deployments, when they must walk into a family that has had to form new routines and traditions without them, she said.

That's where Operation R&R has the biggest impact.

Vacations provide a neutral environment to reconnect and build new traditions, Christina Zwetschke said.

"It is very humbling to accept such a generous gift," she said. "More important is the idea that someone -- the donors and organizers -- cares about our armed forces and, by extension, my own family."

As Bradford Zwetschke took in the living room of the home, he heard the rumbling sound of his children laughing and exploring bedrooms and started up the stairs to check on them.

"It's going to be a good week," he said.

Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.

This story was originally published June 13, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Operation R&R asks property owners to help military families."