Tiny House For Homeless Veteran

When a simple “Hand-Out” won’t help:


Update:  

We have built several homes so far and with your help we can prevent things like this from getting worse https://youtu.be/Fj6Xxf7goyM 

10-minute ride thry a tent city https://youtu.be/DiQgvh5gghQ

Please help us help the Veterans and helpless children!

Original Project-
While we were shopping at Wal-Mart I noticed a little boy playing with some toys.
His Mother was calling, “Daniel, Come here!”
He was kinda dirty, like most 10 year olds are.
Me being a Grandpa, I guess I just notice these things.

Little Daniel didn’t want to leave without his toy and kept playing.  I heard her say, “Daniel, you can’t take that to the shelter, besides we can’t afford it!”  He looked over at me. I was stunned and was not sure what to say.

I then said to him, Hi Daniel, My name is Daniel too.
Maybe your mom don’t want you to buy it because Santa is getting it for you.  She was walking over to get him and I knew she heard what I had said.

She asked me if I was a Veteran because I was wearing my Army jacket.  Yes I am, I did my time years ago and now my son is serving in Afghanistan.

She said he name is Carol and asked if we could talk for a minute.  I have to tell you, this sounded a bit strange but I said Sure, me being an old guy who loves to talk.  I soon realized she had a look of desperation in her eyes.  There was a cafeteria so we sat and talked.

She told me about her husband (Jim), a Iraq and Afghanistan war Veteran who suffers from STSD.  
Jim cannot be in a crowd or loud places, he can’t hold a job...   Now they are Homeless.

(Honesty Moment)
I was waiting for her to ask me for money…
But she never did.

She said, Jim leaves them for a week or two at a time not telling her anything.  Her and her to kids keep moving from shelter to shelter and her family can’t help them because they can’t afford support them.  This woman is an emotional mess and I thought at the time, there is not much I can do to help.  

Letting her talk, she told me her story, she laughed, cried and every emotion in between.  I’m not a counselor, so I let her talk and say whatever she needed.  It’s so obvious the weight of the world is taking a toll on her.  I told her the Veterans Administration has programs for her husband (I’m not sure about her and the kids)

This young lady has a good head on her shoulders and needs help.  She opened my eyes when she said, many people want to give us spare change and it does help, but, a hand-out only gets them from one day to the next.

What she really needs is a safe place to live. 
A safe place away from strangers. 
She needed safety for the children.
A place where they could lock the door and their stuff won’t get stolen.
She needs a place to work while the kids are in school, she needs a future. The Kids need a future!

We sat talking for about an hour but her kids were getting restless and it was time to get going.  I bought Daniel a little toy car and Karla (her daughter) a doll.  Giving her my phone number, I told her my wife and I will meet and have coffee whenever she wants.  When we left them, we were feeling so bad for her and the children.

We thought we couldn’t help but then it came to me later in the form of a Tiny House YouTube video.

A week later we seen her at Wal-Mart with the kids in tow.  I told her about Tiny Homes and showed her pictures on my phone.  She just lit-up with joy.

I have learned there is 1.4 Million Homeless children here in the United States and have decided to make it my mission to build a Tiny House for her family.  After contacting some Army buddies we discovered we don’t need to come up with new Tiny Home Designs. The designs are free and we have the skills and the time to build the Tiny Homes. A Tiny Home cost about $7,0000 just for a basic functional home depending on the size.  That's for materials and we will still need to furnish it.

We just need your help to get this project going.

I will share pictures as we build the Tiny House and give constant updates. This young lady and her children are so grateful that we are helping them get off the streets. Carol asked that I don't share her picture on the Internet at this time. Out of respect, I will not post them at this time. I personally believe she is so embarrassed of her situation. My Army buddy Eli Michalski made the video and he will be making videos of the progress we make.

Finally, I am personally begging you to help this family and save their future.

If successful, we will help others by building them Tiny Homes too.

Thank you, everyone!

Dan