It's been a tough road for Damond Thomas. He served our nation for years, including on the front lines in Iraq. Right after coming home, he lost his leg in a terrible car crash.
And then, two days is all Thomas, his teenage daughter and his service dog were told they had left until they would be homeless. "I tried to hold it together for her," he said.
It came down to the final hour of the final day—when Wounded Veterans Relief Fund found out about Thomas's case.
“With their assistance I was able to get my first month, last month deposit for rent something that I wasn’t able to do at that time in the midst of the storm I was going through," he recalled.
Wounded Veterans Relief Fund is a grass roots, bare-bones group founded and directed by retired military in a Lake Park warehouse.
The minimal staff of just three is made up of fighters like Mike Durkee. “Our mission is to provide that temporary financial assistance to veterans that are facing evictions, when they're losing their cars, when they don’t have utilities on. It's a downward spiral at that point.”
One in five homeless Americans is a veteran, and Durkee says it’s WVRF's mission to stem those numbers in Florida. “If we can intervene and make sure the veteran does not become homeless, you’re saving a lot of stress on the veteran's families."
A cycle that gets Durkee and other members of WVRF—- emotional. "You wrote that blank check for your life....and then you come home and it's like you’re sacrificing all over again," Durkee said.
He said most veterans like Thomas are proud—so they wait until the last minute to reach out for help.
“It’s a humbling thing. Coming out and reach out for help. It's hard. You're the guy who's looked up to—and now you have to ask for help, it’s a humbling feeling," Thomas said.
Now, Thomas has a job, a place to live and his own backyard; a piece of American soil he fought so hard to protect and defend.
"Yes this is what I needed," Thomas said.
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November 12, 2019 at 01:07AM
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Palm Beach County group helps veterans in their hour of need - WPTV.com
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