Georgia Vietnam Veterans Alliance

Emergency Aid:

This is the project that started us on the path of community involvement. Our first case was a family that had fallen on hard times through a job loss by the father. The children did not have winter coats to wear to school. We bought coats for the kids and helped with a power bill so they did not lose their heat in the winter.

The most recent examples are heart rendering. In one case, the father lost his job by refusing to perform fraudulent actions for his company. Company officials are not under investigation. However, as bad as his job loss was, finding work for only minimum wage hurt even more. Then the court suddenly awarded him custody of his 8 year old daughter. There was not enough money for baby sitters, rent, and to get his daughter settled. We stepped in and helped with the rent so he could keep his daughter.

It is obviously true that we do not succeed in every case and in some cases we wonder if we have been "set up". Our goal in all cases is to preserve the family unit and to get the veterans in a tax paying mode. Until a person has something meaningful to do and is earning money, they have no-selfesteem. At times we also have to deal with the problems associated with substance abuse. But until a person get cleaned up and is surrounded by those who really care about them there is hope. We are in the business of HOPE RESTORATION.

Not all families or vets need funds to simply pay rent or utilities. For example, we receive donations of many kinds. In one case, a vehicle was donated to GVVA, we fixed it up and donated to a family living in Winder, GA. The father had disappeared and was a Vietnam Vet with severe PTSD. The mother was left with 4 young children. When we first encountered them, they needed everything from food to clothes which we provided. After we received the car, we were able to insure it and get it to the wife. The children are now all back in school. The mother is able to seek employment and they are paying their bills. The children are getting excellent marks in school and the oldest child enrolled in the Cadet program of the Naval Reserve which helped her to obtain an education as she reaches college age. The mother is now employed full-time and recently purchased a home.

One other example is worthy of mention. During a past winter, we received a call from a veteran who was homeless and living in a van with his wife and two children. He was invited into our office and over the next year we worked with the family to get the children in school, obtain work for the parents, get them into a place to live, buy tools to get him restarted in his career as a carpenter and painter, and get them clothes and furniture. In process of all the change and due to the stress of long years in unemployment the family seperated with the wife and kids moving to Florida. Through it all, we worked with them to straighten out their problems and to restore the family unit. Eventually the family was reunited and has moved back to the area.

The veteran now has a job as the maintenance manager at a shopping center. The children are in school and doing extremely well. The entire family is involved in Alliance activities.