Eric Stromvall (right), a new resident at the Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus in Franklin, chats with assistant director Frank Swirko on Friday, July 25, 2025. (Charlotte Matherly—Concord Monitor)
A few months ago, Eric Stromvall didn’t want to wake up in the morning. The U.S. Navy veteran from Pembroke had been sleeping in his truck, then at a transitional housing facility in Nashua.
“I was flat broke, unhealthy, dying, lost my house, lost my business, so on and so on,” Stromvall said. “Beginning of this year, I had absolutely no friggin hope. Nothing.”
That’s all changed.
Since moving to Easterseals’ new Military and Veterans Campus a few weeks ago, Stromvall now wakes before sunrise so he can go outside with his neighbors and watch the wildlife that wanders around the woods and vast green field behind his apartment building. He tries to get out there early enough to see the deer and he still wants to get a look at the black bear he’s heard comes around sometimes.
His new living situation, promising medical care and an educational path for a new career have brought a world of difference to Stromvall’s life this year. Things are looking up.
“A lot of hope now,” he said, which feels “real good.”
Eric Stromvall, a U.S. Navy veteran from Pembroke, points to his photo walls in his new apartment at the Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus on Friday, July 25. Charlotte Matherly photos / Monitor staff
The first-of-its-kind veterans campus, started by Easterseals New Hampshire, includes 29 units of affordable housing set on 15 sprawling acres in Franklin, with direct access to the rail trail and Merrimack River. The apartment-style residences opened in June.
The rest of the first phase — a hotel and conference center that’ll offer a retreat space for nonprofits, plus wraparound services and resources for veterans — is still under construction, to be completed in September. Later, they’ll add recreational facilities like a gym and horseback riding arena.
Veterans often get a “thanks for your service” — a nice gesture, Stromvall said, but sometimes a hollow one. The Easterseals campus puts those words into action.
“Everywhere you go people say it, and it’s like, ‘OK, well, I appreciate that. Thank you for thinking about it.’ But you just hear it too often,” Stromvall said. “Nobody does anything — until this place came along. This backs up that statement: ‘Thank you for your service.’”
At the new Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus in Franklin is a large building that'll soon become a 22-room hotel and conference center that aims to financially support the housing and services on campus. Charlotte Matherly / MONITOR STAFF
Stromvall, 60, enlisted in the Navy as a teenager and served from 1982 to 1984. The shared experiences of everyone living at the campus creates a built-in community: No matter when or where you served, Stromvall said, every veteran has a sense of discipline and respect.
As Stromvall and Frank Swirko, assistant director of the campus, chatted in the hallway, several residents stopped by to say hello, giving Stromvall a friendly pat on the back as they passed.
“It’s just awful,” Stromvall joked. “Too many nice people.”
Swirko went out of his way to greet anyone and everyone passing through the halls. In addition to his role at Easterseals, he’s a selectman in Chichester and a veteran, having served more than 40 years in the Army and Army Reserves.
His job, like any other, can get frustrating, Swirko said. But at the veterans’ campus, there’s an easy fix for that.
“All I have to do is find one of these guys, and then before 10 seconds are in, they have me laughing,” Swirko said. “I can come over here and say, ‘Oh, this is what it’s all about.’ … This is such a good project. I’m so lucky to be part of it.”
Across the campus, which was built on a historical easement that includes part of Daniel Webster’s family farm, is a 22-room hotel and a conference center. That space will be geared specifically toward veterans nonprofits, Swirko said, but open to anyone.
“The whole idea is this side will sustain that side, the housing,” Swirko said. “The money that they spend will go directly toward veterans’ programs and the housing to sustain it.”
The new Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus in Franklin includes historical property from Daniel Webster's family, which will be preserved but redone to serve as a recreational center.
Phil Taub, who runs a fundraising nonprofit for veterans organizations called Swim With A Mission, dreamt up the idea for the campus after a survey revealed affordable housing to be the No. 1 issue for veterans. His goal with the Easterseals partnership, he said, is to combine affordable housing with all those services in a one-stop shop, available to those who live there as well as non-residents. That hub will eventually include a smorgasbord of resources for housing, mental health, clinical management, employment and finance assistance, art therapy, equine immersion and more.
“This is going to be the first time it’s all on one campus,” Taub said. “That’s going to make all the difference in the world for our veterans, one place where everything they need on their journey is going to be in one place and they can access it.”
The project has been hailed by lawmakers and state officials. The Executive Council awarded it $23 million for construction of the first phase, and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan toured the facility last week, calling it “phenomenal.”
A former chapel will become a large meeting room for nonprofits at the new Easterseals NH Military and Veterans Campus in Franklin. Charlotte Matherly—Concord Monitor
Stromvall moved into his new one-bedroom apartment in June and is slowly but steadily unpacking, meticulously planning where to place each framed photograph on his walls: One section for his family, one for his kids and one dedicated to the military.
The space is also fitted to Stromvall’s needs, with a lower peephole on the door to accommodate his wheelchair. His right leg was amputated several years ago, and he now uses a powered wheelchair to get around. Soon, he’ll get surgery for a prosthetic to help him walk again — another recent upswing, since revised federal policies made him eligible for veterans’ healthcare coverage.
While he recovers, he plans to pursue online education for a new career as a construction project manager. After working in construction and heavy vehicle operation, and for the Pembroke Fire Department, he thinks it’ll be a good fit for his skills and doable with his physical limitations.
He credits the Easterseals campus and resources with not just helping him navigate and secure financial assistance to take those classes, but with helping him put his whole life on an upward trajectory.
“The thing is, with here, communicating with Frank and other people, I have that connection or that ability and that hope for improvement for my life,” Stromvall said. “It is kind of like all under this roof is very hopeful … I feel more hope towards a better future for myself than where I was at.”
Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.