No Turning Back
Posted on November 01, 2011
This Veteran’s Day, Penguin Group (USA) is pleased to introduce STORIES FOR SOLDIERS. Penguin is honored to donate $25,000* to USA Cares in support of their extraordinary assistance to post-9/11 military families.
* Regardless of Sales
Army Veteran and author Bryan Anderson lends his support to USA Cares and the Stories for Soldiers campaign.
Penguin is proud to offer a special selection of books about the brave men and women who risk their lives to make our country a better, safer place. Whether on land, at sea, or in the air, we salute each and every one of you.
The Stories for Soldiers campaign showcases titles by the following authors: Bryan Anderson, Dick Winters, Tom Carhart, John C. McManus, Antony Beevor, and Hugh Ambrose.
Every soldier’s story is special—and we’ve created a forum where they can be shared. If you are in the military, know someone who is, or would simply like to convey your gratitude to the men and women, past and present, who serve our country—please, click on the tab above and share.
Show your support of military families and veterans by making your donation to USA Cares.
Home Builders Care
Posted on November 01, 2011
Home Builders Care
The Charitable arm of the Home Builders Association of Lexington is generously providing a home for a deserving disabled veteran and their family! Home Builders Care is very excited about leveraging our resources, relationships and professionals to provide this home. The house will be built in the Equestrian View neighborhood and additional funding is being provided by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority.
To learn more about the project Click Here.
If you know of disabled vet that might be interested in applying for the home, the link to the application is: Click Here.
Family wants to be Whole Again
Posted on October 13, 2011
Staff Sgt. David McCaulla, a truck commander and gunner with the Army National Guard, hadn’t been home a few weeks before the rush of excitement from his 2006 return from Iraq began to fade.
“I thought we’d be happy,” said Amanda, his wife. “It was far from that.”
She says his post-deployment transition became a time of considerable turmoil for their family. He was monstrously short tempered with their five children; age’s three to 12 and had no sense of purposefulness.
After returning from a second deployment in 2009, his behavior escalated into physical aggressiveness. “I had to have him arrested,” said Amanda, 29. “He had me in a choke hold so hard I blacked out. He didn’t realize what he was doing,” she said.
“I’m not afraid of him; he’s just not who I married.”
David, now 32, was finally diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, a mental anxiety disorder that occurs after witnessing a traumatic event. “I don’t know if he would want me to say those things” said Amanda about his war experiences and duties.
But Amanda’s worries weren’t solely centered on his changing behavior. Just before his second deployment and subsequent PTSD diagnoses, David’s military pay became entangled in a series of delays that spun the family into financial distress. That was when she called USA Cares for financial assistance.
“We weren’t getting half of what he was supposed to get,” said Amanda. “We just got so far under. We were grounded.”
With donations from the American public, USA Cares was able to assist the McCaullas with two mortgage payments, two car payments and two month’s worth of water, gas and light utility payments, all totaling $3,472.87.
“I could never repay USA Cares for the impact they’ve had on my family and myself,” said Amanda. “I could never repay USA Cares for what they have done for us and how greatly appreciative we are. USA Cares gave me my sanity and my life back,” she said.
But this story is still waiting for its happy ending. Today, David’s pay is still delayed. Amanda says that since March 2010, they have been getting less than half of what he earned; a situation she hopes is being reviewed. Tragically, they recently lost their home, her childhood home which they bought from her mother.
Amanda and their four youngest children now live in a three-bedroom trailer with her mother. David lives with his grandmother in a town one and half hours’ drive away.
Amanda and David are hopeful of the day they finally collect his back pay because they believe it will enable them to once again purchase a family home where they can live together. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to be a family again,” she says.
David now attends bi-monthly clinical PTSD treatment and therapy sessions, which Amanda holds with great hope. “I love my husband and I want him to get well. He wants to get well.” “We had a very passionate marriage,” said Amanda. “We loved each other. He was everything I ever wanted and he still is.
Tank of Gas Separates Veteran from Dream Pentagon Job
Posted on September 30, 2011
After 24 years with the Army National Guard, which included two deployments to the Middle East, retired Sgt. First Class Mark Chambers never figured that as he reintegrated civilian life, one of his biggest challenges would be to buy a tank of gas. And he certainly never guessed he’d be in such a financial strait that if he didn’t get that tank of gas, his chances of getting a dream job at the Pentagon would be finished.
But that was where Sgt. Chambers, 51, found himself when he called USA Cares to assist in getting him enough gas to drive the six hour stretch from his Connecticut home to the interview.
“I absolutely did not have the money to get there,” said Sgt. Chambers who retired as a senior human resources supervisor. “And it made me feel like, ‘what did I do for 24 years to be in this situation?’”
Sgt. Chambers was among the estimated 2.3 million veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq now confronting the worst job market since the Great Depression of 70 years ago. Ironically, his Army job was to help Soldiers develop their careers. “Everyone said it would be easy for me to a get a job, but it wasn’t that way,” he said. The lackluster job market compounded his financial situation: He was sapping his savings and small pension with a $1,800 mortgage, $420 car payment and devotedly sending his mother in New York City $500 to help supplement her monthly rent.
“I was trying to pay regular bills,” he said. “I realized that if I was going to get ahead again, that I would have to put aside my pride and ask for help.”
With donations from a nation grateful for his service, USA Cares assisted Sgt. Chambers with $100 for gas and $199.95 for a D.C.-area hotel room. When he got a second interview at the Pentagon, USA Cares assisted again with $200 for gas. “The help I got (at USA Cares) was very, very good,” he said. “I can attest that they did everything to help me; every possible thing.”
Today, Sgt. Chambers is an administrator with the United States Agency for international Development – East Africa Division. He works in Washington D.C. “The gas money was important because it gave me a boost.”
Operation Basic Needs Matches Commissary Gift Card Donations
Posted on August 04, 2011
Purchase a Commissary Gift Card, Donate it to USA Cares and SVM will Match Your Donation
SVM, maker of retail, restaurant and gas station gift cards around the country announces Operation Basic Needs.
The newly-launched Commissary Gift Card can be used by military personnel, retirees and their families to make purchases at any one of the commissaries operated worldwide. In honor of the men and women that serve our country, SVM, LP is matching all Commissary Gift Card purchases donated to USA Cares through a special designated website. Click here for press release.
Click here for more information.
