The Veteran's Caregiver Alliance ONE YEAR Anniversary

Wow! What a year! Upon launching the Veteran’s Caregiver Alliance in 2019, we never imagined the “new” challenges our caregivers would soon face! Talk about perfect timing! 

Since launching in August 2019, our membership base has grown to nearly 200 caregivers! 

Through the free mentorship program offered through the Veteran’s Caregiver Alliance, our dedicated team has been able to pinpoint the gaps in current support available. We used these findings to refocus our plans during a national shut-down to provide vital support to our nation’s heroic veteran caregivers. 

To date, we’ve provided more than 20 weeks worth of groceries to families in need. We have shipped essential cleaning and medical supplies to 40+ families, Compassion Kits for self-care to those who were experiencing burnout, and resources and guidance to help alleviate the everyday stresses we face. Our team understands these challenges better than most because many of us have lived through them ourselves- one of the unique features of the Veteran’s Caregiver Alliance- Built from the ground up BY Caregivers, FOR Caregivers.

More than 1.1 million family members currently care for our nation's severely wounded post-9/11 Veterans. These often-overlooked women and men also must carry the burden of maintaining their household and raising children, throughout the Veteran's years-long recovery.

While we would never minimize the physical, psychological, and emotional struggles of our loved ones, our burdens are real, too. The Veteran’s Caregiver Alliance is the only program of its kind focused on easing those burdens. We are extraordinarily proud of what we’ve created, and we’re thrilled with the feedback we received during our initial tests. We think the Alliance is going to change many lives for the better, and perhaps even save some.

As the wife and caregiver of a triple amputee U.S. Army Veteran who was wounded during his service, I am grateful for my colleagues at the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes for expanding their mission to support the more than 1.1 million men and women like myself, who care for a post 9/11 wounded veteran.

Testimonials from our members:

Food Box Recipient: “Thank you to the VCA for blessing us and helping us. We hope others that receive it will be as grateful because we desperately needed it. We were able to have a meal for the first time in a while. Peanut butter and jelly was on the menu, but we were able to have chicken and baked apples instead.”

Essentials Box Recipient: "We just got the nicest care package from you. Just wanted to send a big happy thank you! It is most appreciated. All of those items have been near impossible to find. Thank you for relieving some stress." 

To learn more about the Veteran's Caregiver Alliance, visit our website at: https://saluteheroes.org/veterans-caregiver-alliance/

A note to our current VCA Members: We can’t thank you enough for all you do to keep your families strong! We know it’s not easy- but always know, you’re never alone. 

For questions or to contact the Veteran's Caregiver Alliance team, send us an e-mail at caregiversupport@saluteheroes.org

Written by: Ashlee Williams, Veteran Caregiver & VCA Program Manager

My Veteran's Dream To Reality

There's nothing I love more than seeing someone's dream come true. This time, it's my husband's dream coming true!

My husband and I are high school sweethearts; we have been married for almost 17 years. We have five kids and have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly! But through it all, we remain strong for each other because we believe in making it work, by working together through whatever life throws our way!

 

With having five kids, we put our wants on the back burner. For the last 16.5 years, I've heard my husband talk about wanting a fishing boat. I've listened to him tell us stories about his fishing trips with his dad and grandpa on the Great Lakes. The memories he shares, always make me smile because I know they mean so much to him, and it makes me think of the times he fishes with his own kids!

Every so often, he would say, “Let's go buy a boat.” But the answer was always, not right now. We can't afford a $30,000-$50,000 boat, that's the kind of boat you take out on the bigger lakes (the expensive ones). It would bother him, but with five kids, we have to plan around them. Braces, sports, class trips, clothes, you get it…kids are costly!

 

In June, my husband saw a beautiful 25 ft boat for sale down the road from us. He didn't get too excited, because a boat that big he knew would cost a lot of money. He spoke with the owner. The man told him it was his dad's boat and that it needs some work; it hadn't run since 2004 when his dad passed away. He told him, he only fished in the Upper Peninsula, out of Grand Marias. My husband told him about his cousin having a cabin in Grand Marias, and that's where we like to spend our summers. He told my husband, this boat was meant to be for him. He gave him a price. My husband came home, told me about the boat, the background story of the boat, and the price. I told him, “Go get your boat!”

 

Seeing the smile on his face melted my heart because, at that moment, his dream just came true!

The next step was getting the work done on it. He said, "I'll get it in the water next year." I said, "No, let's get it in the water in July." We found a mechanic to do the electrical and the engine repairs at a reasonable price. It took some time, and as things got repaired, I watched the excitement grow in my husband. It's like watching a kid open a gift on Christmas Day. It was exciting when I came home from picking up some kids from work, and he said, "It's all done!" He called up his cousin, who gave him a great deal on some reels and told him to head over, let's go put her on the water! It was a very happy moment to see and share with him! The boat he got is a 1988 250 Fisherman, and he named her Elana-Breeze- named after his four daughters and me. It's not a new boat, but it's new to us, and I know the memories we make on this boat will be memories our kids will carry on to their kids!

 

Written by Kacy R.

The Flag Will Still Be There

Due to the great instability that exists in our nation as of today, July 2020, many patriotic Americans have had to bear the pain of observing some of our national symbols being despised before the intriguing gaze of the planet. For a person like me to spill my blood for what our flag represents, having to internalize the image of our young people burning and disrupting our flag on our own soil is simply inconceivable. It is understood that desecrating our flag, if it is our way of expressing oneself, is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects our right to free expression.

 

But to degrade such an important egregor is to assume much more profound and far-reaching consequences then many of us may suppose.

 

I remember with great pride the moment when I just moved to the urban community where I currently live in Port Saint Lucia, Florida. In the beautiful development called New Port Isles, I was called to the inauguration of a monument. This community monument consisted of a majestic flag with its flagpole and a monument dedicated to veterans.

The solemnity of the moment inspired me to share with all the people attending a point of view regarding the most sacred of our national symbols, our American flag. I find the connection between the words recited in our National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," and our American flag, very interesting.

 

We sing it and memorize it in school, but if we take some time to think about the events that are related in a portion of the poem written by Francis Scott Key, "The Star-Spangled Banner, we could appreciate the meaning of this flag even more.

 

History said that from a thousand yards of distance offshore, Francis Scott Key witnessed how patriots from Fort Henry received concentrated fire from the cannons of the British War Fleet. With the only intention of taking down that flag to mean, the war was over, and the carnage would end. Because Fort Henry was inhabited primarily by family members and because it was primarily not a military fort, they did not believe it would be a match for the British War Fleet.

 

They even negotiated to stop as long as they kept the flag on the floor. In Fort Henry, it was brutal. Throughout the night, Fort Henry received a devastating attack, but they prayed so hard to God to keep that flag flying where they last saw it. Sunrise came, there was a heavy mist hanging over the land, but there stood the flag completely nondescript in shreds. The flagpole itself was at a crazy angle, and the flag was still on the top. 

 

Francis Scott Key immediately went to Fort Henry to see what happened, and he found that the flagpole and the flag had suffered repeated direct hits, and it had fallen. Men… fathers, who knew what it meant for the flag to be on the ground and knowing that all the British guns were on top of them… they walked to it and held it up until they died. Their bodies would be removed, and others would take their place. Francis Scott Key said that, what was holding that flagpole in that unusual angle, were the patriot's bodies, our first armed forces and first responders.

 

From those experiences, Francis Scott Key wrote this poem:

 

"O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming;

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

 

We can see the same inspiration on the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.

 

I'm talking about six United States Marines raising the American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II…

 

Like the raising of the flag at Ground Zero, where three New York City firefighters raised the American flag, following the September 11 attacks.

 

To me, this means that no matter how many times we're attacked, no matter how many wars we have to battle for our freedom, no matter how many hurricanes come to terrorize our shores… that flag will still be there, protected by our American veterans, our American Armed Forces, and our First Responders.

 

As an American wounded veteran, it was my greatest honor to have the opportunity to plant this seed of love for our nation into our younger generation.

 

As a neighbor, being a part of our community has been a great blessing. This next October counts as our sixth year as homeowners in New Port Isles. It's been great. And even to this day, I have not felt in our community the airs of rebellion, frustration, and hatred that cross our coasts. But I know it's there; I know it's a scourge with longer tentacles than we can think of. Let us instill in our children the love for our national symbols now that we have them within our reach within our home. Let's talk about our history, the good and the bad, our successes, and our mistakes as a nation. In this way, when the time comes, they will be able to distinguish between good and bad, between right and wrong—making the best decision, which is not to repeat our mistakes of the past. Thus, being able to look together towards the future, one nation, one heart, and one soul, while our flag will still be there.

                      

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Written by U.S. Army (Ret) Spc. Hugo Gonzalez