Commissioner Murphy Helps Celebrate New Home for Wounded Veteran

• 27 May 2025
• Category: SJC News District 3
• Tags: 2025

The Key Ceremony welcomed the veteran and his family to their new home.

The non-profit Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) is a privately funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted, custom homes nationwide for severely injured post 9/11 Veterans. One of the Veterans in the program, Army SGT Sean Karpf, has chosen to live in St. Augustine, FL. On May 17, 2025, St. Johns County Commissioner Clay Murphy, District 3, represented the Board of County Commissioners at the Key Ceremony for Sean and his family to officially receive the keys to their new, specially adapted home.

In 2012, Army Sergeant Karpf was serving as an Infantry paratrooper with Company C, 1-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division in Kandahar, Afghanistan when he was injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast. He sustained the loss of his left leg below the knee, back injuries, tinnitus, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Currently, Sean is the owner of “A Leg Up”, a family pressure washing business, and is a parent to a daughter, Marissa, and a son, Zachary with his wife Brandy. A former strength and conditioning coach and Warrior Games medalist, Sean recognizes the limitations in his current home are becoming more challenging as he ages. The inaccessible floor plan requires him to wear his prosthetic when he should be resting and recovering in his wheelchair, and the bathroom forces him to hop on one leg to access the shower.

A specially adapted custom home from HFOT with a walkway around the entire house will allow Sean to be in his wheelchair more often, as well as get in and out of the house safely and easily. The mortgage-free home will provide the opportunity to grow the family business. “This home is opening doors to the future,” Sean says. Sean is choosing to remain in Florida where he and Brandy have been raising their children. Sean would like to express his gratitude to HFOT donors and supporters for their generosity. “This home is not only giving me a new lease on life—it’s giving my family a new chapter that will set us up for a successful future. We are forever grateful.”

In January 2025, St. Johns County supported the Community Kickoff for the new home.