Veterans Connected - Organization gave away over $15,000 to veteran families in need through its Adopt-a-Soldier holiday program.

This 2019 Holiday season we provided support to eight families directly and numerous other indirectly because of the generosity of our donors.  We estimate about $15,000 of goods and cash were given away this year, beating last year by $5000.  This credit goes to God, sending us His called.

We kicked off the season by giving away a vehicle to a veteran so he could get to work.  We had an awesome family donate the vehicle to our organization.  A big thank you goes out to Belle Tire of Brighton, Mi. for the new tires and to Ultimate Body for an amazing car detail.  This veteran has been blessed by so many.

When we put Evan's story out there, everyone showed up in force to furnish his house.  At that time, all he had was an air mattress on the floor with one blanket.  Through our generous donors, Evan has a new bed, which he had not had in three years due to being homeless.  Evan also received silver wear, plates, furniture, linens, clothing food and other misc. items.  Evan stated that this has "made this house a home".

Next was a series of families that we were called to bless and again, our donors came out in incredible fashion.  Steve and Gina had been having one incredibly bad year dealing with home repairs, car accidents and income shortages.  We showed up with Santa (the real one) for the kids.  he family was completely blown away by the generosity that people showed and the smiles and tears told us how grateful this family was.

We then stopped out at patty's house and lifted her holiday.  She is a widow of a Vietnam veteran with one son that has seizures due to a TBI he had sustained.  Again, our donors showed up and we presented her with cooking supplies, food, clothing and many other necessities and gift cards.  Her income is such that she sleeps on a futon in the living room and her son slept in the bedroom. 

Chris and Elise were up next to be blessed, having five kids living in a two bedroom apartment.  His work had been less than steady; they spent time on the streets because of it.  We showed up with an enormous amount of presents and gift cards including new computers for the kids and winter wear that was greatly needed. 

Along came a need for food for a current national Guard family that had been in a serious accident.  We were able to provide gift cards for food and gave them groceries we had donated to our cause. 

We then had a homeless veteran that was in tire need of funds because he was about to lose his vehicle.  We secured a warm place to stay until he got on his feet, caught up his car payment and provided him necessary funds to be able to look for work.  He has just obtained a job and in the next month, we will be working with him to obtain a permanent residence.

Lastly, we were given an enormous amount of food, after making sure the families we were serving were taken care of, we had learned that one on the American Legions in the area was providing Christmas dinner for 400 people.  We contacted them and provided three turkeys and several cases of food to help their efforts.

God has truly blessed this Veterans Connected ministry and we look forward to an incredible year of continuing to bless fellow veterans.  If you want to get involved, please reach out to us on our Facebook page (LinkedIn to come soon) at Veterans Connected.  you do not need to be a veteran to be a part of this ministry.  You can also donate directly to us through the GYVE app by choosing Veterans Connected.

A big thank you goes out to our donors for helping make this holiday season amazing for so many.  We here at Veterans Connected look forward to serving even more families throughout the years to come.  Stay tuned.