The task we endeavor to accomplish is not insurmountable, but it is not a simple one nor is it quickly accomplished. Throughout our nation's history there has always been war, and there has always been a price we as a nation have paid in blood and lives. To those who have paid this price, we owe more than we can ever hope to repay in full. I find this is where many of the citizens of our nation struggle with how to help these patriots in the most meaningful way. How can we improve the overall wellbeing of these men and women in their transition back to civilized society? Many of these patriots feel disenfranchised by their people and their nation once their duty is over. Others are made disabled from their service, restricting them from gaining meaningful employment in society thus further alienating them from those they hoped to protect. Others still suffer from mental illness due to their service as a result of combat losses, guilt from their own actions, or simply surviving when others had not. This condition can be all encompassing to a patriot bleeding into all aspects of a “normal” life as expressed in our “ American Dream”. All of these conditions or a combination of such leads these men and women to find themselves on the fringes of our society living in the system but not being of that system. This fosters a breakdown in the family unit of these patriots and, wanting not to participate in society. They experience fear and paranoia of the systems in place that are meant to help support these servicemembers due to mismanagement , apathy, political fervor , or complexity of access.

It is our mission to begin to address the issue of disabled combat veteran population homelessness in our nation. With the help of our operational members, we will be able to effectively communicate our intent to build a funding program with the Veterans of Foreign Wars as our primary soliciting organization. This is not to exclude any outside opportunities to fund Vets Way Home by other organizations , private funding, or federal / state grants we may qualify for. From the support offered through the V.F.W. of the State of Louisiana we will be able to present to all available V.F.W. posts in the State our program proposal to raise the needed funds to build our first home for a deserving and qualified service member. With the help of Habitat of Humanity of Louisiana, we will be able to build our pilot program in Saint Tammany Parish. Once our first home is built, a qualifying service member is in place, and all mission statement goals have been achieved, we can begin to replicate the process as much as needed in perpetuity .

Once we can show that the process can be replicated and sustainable through our mission goals, we can begin to contact State Commanders in our region of the country along with Habitat for Humanity board representatives of those states . We will offer proof of the success of our program, viability of said program, and the benefits such a program can bring to their communities . In time, if we can reach this lofty goal, we will take our program to the National V.F.W. conference with the support of the State Commanders who we have already had the pleasure of working with . We will present our program on a National Level implementing the full support of every V.F.W. post in our nation that wishes to help fund our goal. With this National

Support along the V.F.W side we should be able to garner the Support of Habitat for Humanity on a national level as well, effectively lowering the number of homeless veterans in our nation.

We will learn the stories of these servicemembers, their backgrounds, their triumphs, and their losses . We will learn about their families, spouse, children, mothers, fathers, siblings. and how the effects of homelessness impacted them. We will learn what a home, and support of our program has done to help shape a new future for this service member. We will share these stories with all those who would like to support us , and all who would like to know why we take on this task. It is my hope that with these good works we can not only stem the tide of homelessness in our nation but also help to lower the rate of veteran suicide that is taking so many of our best and brightest. I know with all of your love and support we can overcome these obstacles together and give these well deserving men and women a brighter tomorrow.