In a day and age where most high school students spend their time focused on getting the latest iPhone or seeking out the latest party, a group of high schoolers in Lancaster, California are spending their time making a difference in the life of an American hero.

Jerral Hancock is an Iraq war veteran who lost an arm and suffered burns all over his paralyzed body after his vehicle in Baghdad hit with an IED on his 21st birthday. A piece of shrapnel lodged in his spine leaving him paralyzed below the waist so he couldn’t escape the burning truck. Hancock was scheduled to leave the service just a few months after his injury.

He had bought a mobile home for his himself, his wife and their two kids after he returned from the war. When he came back, the home was too small for him to take his wheelchair down the hallway. He also spent almost six months trapped at the house when his family’s truck broke down keeping him from being able to attend appointments at the nearest VA facility.

When students in the U.S. History classes of teacher Jamie Goodreau heard about Hancock’s plight, they resolved to make a difference in this American hero’s life. They began to hold fundraisers and charity events to buy land for building a new, wheelchair-accessible home for Hancock and his family.

In six months, the students raised enough to close escrow on a $264,000 piece of property where they will be breaking ground on a house next month.

“We had no doubt it could be done,” senior Joseph Mallyon told Fox News. “Older people, the people who have jobs, who go through life and know the harsh reality of things, those people doubt us. But we just accept it and say ‘watch what we can do!’”

Students who graduated and are attending colleges have continued to raise funds for the home in what they’re calling Operation All The Way Home.