Help the Smithwick Family, Bring Home Our Andrew
Donation protected
For those who have been following our story and struggle, we want to personally thank you for caring, sharing, and searching alongside our family over the past three years to find our Andrew, get him safely off the streets, and bring him home.
For those of you who have yet to follow alongside our journey, we want to share information, our story and most importantly, the ongoing search to bring home our beloved son and brother, Andrew.
Over the past three years our family has traveled across the country in search of Andrew. Andrew is our son, brother, nephew, friend and fellow US Marine Veteran. Andrew has served two consecutive tours in Iraq and his service to our nation has resulted in extreme PTSD and paranoid schizophrenia. Andrew is homeless, living on the streets and for much of the past three years, has been filed as a Missing Person.
As you might imagine, our search for Andrew and the process - both trial and errors - that come along with that have been multifaceted, complex, and expensive. Three years ago, Andrew would call our family for help. Hopeful, we would immediately jump on the next plane to whichever city Andrew was in, plan to meet him at a landmark and pray he would show up. More often than not, he would never surface.
Over the next couple of years, this routine seemed to be fewer and far between until we stopped hearing from Andrew completely. Heartbroken, we filed a Missing Persons report and then only learned of Andrew’s whereabouts from law enforcement.
The unknown and sorrow that goes with having a family member missing and suffering from mental illness is heartbreaking. Our family is resilient because of the love and support our friends, family, Facebook community, and even strangers have shown Andrew and our entire family. The reach and impact our “Find Andrew Smithwick” Facebook page has led to is incredible. Because of our supporters, followers, and sharers we have been able to track Andrew for the past several years.
We have traveled to Orlando, FL, Seattle, WA (twice), Santa Fe, NM (twice), Albuquerque, NM (twice), San Diego, CA, Desert Hot Springs, CA, Los Angeles, CA, and Baltimore, MD in search of Andrew. We have taken off numerous days of work, traveled thousands of miles via plane and car, stayed in dozens of hotels, spent hours searching homeless communities, printed out hundreds of MISSING posters. We would do this all and more to see our brother, son, nephew, friend, and fellow Marine again and get him the help that he deserves and desperately needs.
A couple of months ago, after a very long and agonizing quiet period, we got a call from the local Albuquerque police letting us know Andrew was alive. Without hesitation, and overcome with emotion, we jumped on planes and in cars to lay eyes on Andrew. As we arrived in a small New Mexico town - between Santa Fe and Albuquerque - we saw police footage of Andrew (the first time we had seen Andrew’s face in over a year), hired a private investigator and lawyer, researched and visited local hospitals and doctors all with the hope to set up a support system for Andrew’s road to recovery.
We worked tirelessly with our private investigator, lawyers, and doctors to ensure that if we could get Andrew off the streets safely, we would have all the resources necessary to place Andrew in a facility for treatment and help. Our family did not want to antagonize our paranoid Andrew, so we observed him from afar and learned of silver linings that give us some peace: Andrew is not on drugs, he has a solitary routine, and is in physical shape (extremely important to a trained Marine). However, Andrew is still a mentally ill US Marine Vet who’s family desperately wants to help him recover. Unfortunately, this is not how our trip ended. Andrew is still alienated from our family and is living life alone on the unknown streets.
Although many things have changed with our family over the years - our love for Andrew is a constant. We will never stop trying to get him the help he deserves nor stop looking for him.
This is the part where we lean on you, our support system - our family, our friends, our communities, Facebook “strangers” that have quickly turned into our extended family and anyone who cares and wants to see Andrew home and healthy.
Our three+ year search has been emotionally, physically and most recently financially taxing on our family. We’ve created this platform to educate and again ask for your support. If you’ve been following Andrew’s story, or have been moved by our family’s search and struggle, we do ask that you give to help ease the burden of bills and continued support for Andrew.
The holiday season is always difficult for our family. While we are surrounded by tons of love and support, there is always Andrew’s empty seat at our table. This Christmas, we will leave our lights on for Andrew. We ask that you stand with our family: leave your lights on for Andrew and make a donation - big or small - to ease the financial hardships our family is facing.
Thank you for reading, caring, sharing and enduring our family’s pain with us. We are grateful for your love, support and friendship as we continue the search for our beloved Andrew.
Love from our family to yours,
Eliza Smithwick (Andrew’s sister) and The Smithwick Family
Your gifts will directly support both previous and future searches for Andrew by helping to provide:
Lodging
Travel
Gas
Food
Private Investigators
Lawyers
Find Andrew Smithwick Facebook Page
For those of you who have yet to follow alongside our journey, we want to share information, our story and most importantly, the ongoing search to bring home our beloved son and brother, Andrew.
Over the past three years our family has traveled across the country in search of Andrew. Andrew is our son, brother, nephew, friend and fellow US Marine Veteran. Andrew has served two consecutive tours in Iraq and his service to our nation has resulted in extreme PTSD and paranoid schizophrenia. Andrew is homeless, living on the streets and for much of the past three years, has been filed as a Missing Person.
As you might imagine, our search for Andrew and the process - both trial and errors - that come along with that have been multifaceted, complex, and expensive. Three years ago, Andrew would call our family for help. Hopeful, we would immediately jump on the next plane to whichever city Andrew was in, plan to meet him at a landmark and pray he would show up. More often than not, he would never surface.
Over the next couple of years, this routine seemed to be fewer and far between until we stopped hearing from Andrew completely. Heartbroken, we filed a Missing Persons report and then only learned of Andrew’s whereabouts from law enforcement.
The unknown and sorrow that goes with having a family member missing and suffering from mental illness is heartbreaking. Our family is resilient because of the love and support our friends, family, Facebook community, and even strangers have shown Andrew and our entire family. The reach and impact our “Find Andrew Smithwick” Facebook page has led to is incredible. Because of our supporters, followers, and sharers we have been able to track Andrew for the past several years.
We have traveled to Orlando, FL, Seattle, WA (twice), Santa Fe, NM (twice), Albuquerque, NM (twice), San Diego, CA, Desert Hot Springs, CA, Los Angeles, CA, and Baltimore, MD in search of Andrew. We have taken off numerous days of work, traveled thousands of miles via plane and car, stayed in dozens of hotels, spent hours searching homeless communities, printed out hundreds of MISSING posters. We would do this all and more to see our brother, son, nephew, friend, and fellow Marine again and get him the help that he deserves and desperately needs.
A couple of months ago, after a very long and agonizing quiet period, we got a call from the local Albuquerque police letting us know Andrew was alive. Without hesitation, and overcome with emotion, we jumped on planes and in cars to lay eyes on Andrew. As we arrived in a small New Mexico town - between Santa Fe and Albuquerque - we saw police footage of Andrew (the first time we had seen Andrew’s face in over a year), hired a private investigator and lawyer, researched and visited local hospitals and doctors all with the hope to set up a support system for Andrew’s road to recovery.
We worked tirelessly with our private investigator, lawyers, and doctors to ensure that if we could get Andrew off the streets safely, we would have all the resources necessary to place Andrew in a facility for treatment and help. Our family did not want to antagonize our paranoid Andrew, so we observed him from afar and learned of silver linings that give us some peace: Andrew is not on drugs, he has a solitary routine, and is in physical shape (extremely important to a trained Marine). However, Andrew is still a mentally ill US Marine Vet who’s family desperately wants to help him recover. Unfortunately, this is not how our trip ended. Andrew is still alienated from our family and is living life alone on the unknown streets.
Although many things have changed with our family over the years - our love for Andrew is a constant. We will never stop trying to get him the help he deserves nor stop looking for him.
This is the part where we lean on you, our support system - our family, our friends, our communities, Facebook “strangers” that have quickly turned into our extended family and anyone who cares and wants to see Andrew home and healthy.
Our three+ year search has been emotionally, physically and most recently financially taxing on our family. We’ve created this platform to educate and again ask for your support. If you’ve been following Andrew’s story, or have been moved by our family’s search and struggle, we do ask that you give to help ease the burden of bills and continued support for Andrew.
The holiday season is always difficult for our family. While we are surrounded by tons of love and support, there is always Andrew’s empty seat at our table. This Christmas, we will leave our lights on for Andrew. We ask that you stand with our family: leave your lights on for Andrew and make a donation - big or small - to ease the financial hardships our family is facing.
Thank you for reading, caring, sharing and enduring our family’s pain with us. We are grateful for your love, support and friendship as we continue the search for our beloved Andrew.
Love from our family to yours,
Eliza Smithwick (Andrew’s sister) and The Smithwick Family
Your gifts will directly support both previous and future searches for Andrew by helping to provide:
Lodging
Travel
Gas
Food
Private Investigators
Lawyers
Find Andrew Smithwick Facebook Page
Organizer
Eliza Smithwick
Organizer
Blue Mount, MD