This former sharpshooter traded in his rifle for a hammer as a way to give back to his community

Cpt. Matt Savage grew up in Starkville, Mississippi, graduated from West Point, and was deployed in Afghanistan, but now he dedicates his time to building houses for those in need.

Savage’s life changed in 2018 when a serious motorcycle crash put him in a coma and eventually sent his life moving in a new direction.  Savage was struck by a semi truck while taking a motorcycle ride as he visited family, and even though he had survived explosive devices during combat missions overseas, the accident came the closest to taking him out, reported WCBI News.

“I would have never thought that the human body could have lived through what mine went through,” he said. The body that was in a coma. And then I woke up.”

“There’s no giving up,” he said of his recovery. “There’s no giving up on a flight and you have to be very dedicated to that and just keep fighting every single day.”

“I went through West Point Military Academy, Ranger School, etc., etc. Then through this life-altering accident that I had,” he said. “I always said that, once you have outgrown a place, leave it be there in the past and never go back to it.”

“Everything that was vested into me to build me and my character, who I was and get me to the places that I was going, showing me the harder right and easier wrong,” he said, describing how the city shaped him. “To me, it’s important to go ahead and try to give back to the community as much as I can.”

Now that he has healed, the Army Ranger veteran has partnered with Starkville’s Habitat for Humanity and Mississippi State to build houses for families in need, and one of his attorneys has even donated his portion of the settlement from the accident to the organization. 

“I’m the official rank of ‘Mr.’ instead of ‘Cpt.’,” he said. In fact, the organization’s most recently built house was even dedicated to Savage through a heartwarming ceremony. 

“I got to actually walk through and see the house and all the hard work that was done to make it ready for the family to move in and live in,” he said.

“I think that was the sweetest thing ever,” said Santana Turnipseed, who is moving into the home with husband Chadrick Robinson and their five children. “I am so thankful for that. I’m very thankful for that. You know because they didn’t have to do that.”