Sarah and Troy Rufing live in Greenville, Indiana with their six children who are between the ages of 3 and 14. Recently, they decided to expand their family by taking in three elderly disabled veterans.

Army Sgt. William Sutton, 53, Sgt. Charles Hughes, 87, and Army Cpl. Robert Schellenberg, 89, now live in a three bedroom wing of the Rufing home thanks to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Foster Home Program.

Troy and Sarah act as caregivers to the three veterans, helping them bathe, dress and carry out other daily activities. 700 participants in 44 different states are taking part in this program to help 1,000 veterans, most of whom suffer from chronic conditions.

“Veterans living in this type of setting tend to thrive and often have fewer hospitalizations than those who are living alone or in institutional care,” explained VA program coordinator Lori Paris. “This environment really enriches the lives of both the veterans and the remarkable caregivers who accept these veterans into their homes.”

The program gives veterans the chance to live with a family instead of living in a nursing home, and each veteran also receives at-home visits from VA health-care professionals, including doctors, occupational therapists and psychologists. Their foster givers, who take care of everything else, get average stipend of $2,400 a month per veteran and are on call 24 hours a day for everything from meal preparations to laundry and housekeeping.

The Rufings love having the three veterans around!

“It’s like having your grandparents live with you,” Sarah said. “We’re one big family.”

“They take care of us,” added Charles. “They’re all just so sweet and nice.”

The Rufings have taken in five veterans, two of whom have passed away, since joining the program in 2013. They love spending time with the three veterans, doing things like watching movies with them together at night.

“That’s the whole thing about this program,” said Troy. “It’s a family, and veterans feel like they’re at home, like they belong somewhere. We feel like we were meant to do this. And we plan to help for as long as we possibly can.”

Find out more about this program in the video below.