By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER – Dover Air Force Base’s Fisher House helps families through the most difficult time of their lives: the loss of a loved one.

“The Fisher House Foundation has these houses to help service members and their families and provide them with lodging,” said Dover Fisher House manager Sgt. Samantha Hogan. “And that’s active duty, wounded warriors, veterans, but we are the only Fisher House where families come to stay to witness and do a dignified transfer of their loved one. So, we are one of a kind.”

Fisher Houses are typically on hospital campuses or military installations where medical procedures are done.

Sgt. Hogan said she does not take her position lightly.

“Being the manager of the Dover Fisher Houses is very rewarding to say the least — to get to meet these families, and be able to stand by their sides,” she said. “Not their sole emotional support, but just being there to make sure that they’re comfortable, they feel at home. We give them solace for them to be able to process that information and to really process the loss.”

The house, at 116 Purple Heart Drive, gives families a place to stay, but also provides them with meals. Fisher House staff flips the house afterwards to prepare it for its next guest, whenever that may come.

Dover Air Force Base is the Air Force’s home of mortuary affairs, which gives Dover’s Fisher House its unique mission. It opened in November 2010, with its first family staying in December of the same year. Since then, Sgt. Hogan said it has served over 3,000 families.

Though the Fisher House does not accept direct volunteers, they work closely with nonprofit organization Friends of the Fallen, which has a similar mission of helping military families deal with the loss of their loved one.

The Fisher House does accept donations as well as items from their Amazon wishlist via their website: Fisherhouse.org/programs/houses/current-houses/delaware-fisher-house-for-families-of-the-fallen.

As Memorial Day approaches, Sgt. Hogan looks back at the way she thinks the holiday has changed.

“Really, Memorial Day to me has a whole new meaning. I am first-generation military. And I was taught what Memorial Day is. We celebrate Memorial Day, we keep those families and those fallen service members and our thoughts and our prayers,” she said.

“But it means a whole lot more to me now, because I feel like I’m bonded to a lot of these families that I’ve cared for. And now I have these faces and names of people that I will continuously think about every year to come.”