My husband’s administrative role in a local school district includes interacting with various groups concerned with homelessness and near-homelessness. He received an email blast from Hope for Veterans because they had just placed a former career military in the lower part of our county, and she was in need of specific household items.
She was forced to separate from the Army in 2011 because she was a single parent with an infant and due to deploy back to Afghanistan–and had been struggling since then. Knowing that veterans are my chosen philanthropic focus (the Wounded Warrior Project, Hero Box, and the VFW are some of my favorites), he responded that we would be happy to send this veteran a check.
This was all arranged via Hope for Veterans after the intended recipient signed a release, and I sent her $100 in mid-June. Before she even cashed her check, I received back in the mail the sweetest typed thank you I have ever gotten from anyone for anything. It was heartfelt and humbling.
I went through my gift card stash and had put a “care envelope” together to send to her for the 4th of July. Enter Joe Terry with his $100 challenge, and I was able to include another $100 for this local good cause. Below is my most recent letter to my new veteran friend.
Hi.
Thank you for your beautiful note. It was good to know that my donation made a difference. No thanks are necessary, as you are the one who willingly put yourself in harm’s way in defense of me and my freedoms.
In honor of Independence Day, I had earmarked some never-used gift cards for you. They have been ready to mail on my desk for about a week. Meanwhile, and quite providentially, the CEO of my company just challenged each of us employees to “pay it forward” with a $100 to someone or something in need. In other words, he told us to share $100 with an entity of our choosing, and he would pay us back. So, I am happy to be sending you another check, in addition to a few gift cards.
Take care of your son—and of yourself.
Happy 4th of July—and God bless America.
“At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.”
— Stephen E. Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers: The U S Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany
