Northwoods Family

While we're located in southeastern Wisconsin, VetsNet and its partners like Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative will help vets in need wherever we find them. That's what took us on a 500-mile round trip this week to Oneida County.

It started with an email from a disabled veteran, single parent with 5 -year old son, who had lost all of their belongings in a property with black mold. They had to move out of their housing as even the ceilings had started to fall in in his son’s bedroom.

He had heard about VetsNet through “Broads for a Cause,” a national organization with Wisconsin chapters. They are a women run organization which raises funds for worthy causes. We had met with one of their members in March and talked about the work that VetsNet does. She referred the veteran to us. Jason Dailey in the Oneida County Veterans Services Office verified the veteran’s status and was familiar with his situation.

We reached out to our partner organization, MHVI, and they contacted the veteran to determine what household items, furnishings, etc., he and his son needed. When that inventory of needs was completed, VetsNet arranged with MHVI for delivery of the home furnishings on June 28.

VetsNet also determined with the veteran that his son was most upset because he lost his Spiderman sheets and bed linens to the mold and didn’t understand why he had to leave everything at his old house. As the photos show, we were able to find the Spiderman bed linens for a very happy little boy, and even threw in some toys as well. The MHVI operations staff and VetsNet executive director made the trip to northern Wisconsin together to deliver the furnishings to this veteran and his son. What a great day!