Question
I am starting a fundraiser for a veteran in my community. He is actually a neighbor of mine. He was in the navy for 20 years, now he has cancer. Can anyone tell me where I could get help for someone like this?
This man is 78 years old and retired from the navy, he served 20 years there, he is such a hardworker. He is not only retired from the navy, after he got out he then went to work for Russell corporation, and Robinson iron working 2 full time jobs.he then retired from Russell, and later retired from Robinson iron. This man is an outstanding citizen. What's so horrible is that the work he done for our country caused his cancer.his navy job had to do with a broiler room which is highly contaminated with asbestos. He has never smoked a cigarette in his life. Attorneys have contacted him about this asbestos saying he could draw money, this and that, but he hasn't got a penny for it. There are people that worked for Russell corp. 6 months that are drawing checks for having a touch of asbestos. He was there over 20 years and gets nothing. I really think he deserves some help. The worse thing is that he had 3 sons lost his oldest in 2008 to lung cancer. He is my neighbor and my family and I last year were devastated because in the beginning of Dec.2015 we saw an ambulance pick up his youngest son, then towards the end right after Christmas he passed away. So now his middle child the only one left he has been sick for some time, and living with his parents so was the youngest. Well Feb. 2016 middle child dies. From what we know he has almost lost his home. He was a security guard, at his age he doesn't need to work. He does have his wife, and grandchildren - they are his life. I tried to set up a gofundme.com account for him, it never made a dime, but I do not have many FB friends. I do have pics of him. His wife let me take pics of the awards and plaques from the navy, she does know im trying to help them, any advice from anyone would be nice
Answer
What an amazing man. I hate that he is experiencing this, but am so grateful you are there for him and his family.
Online platforms are challenging because there are simply so many strangers who need help, and seeing them in 2-dimensional sites makes it easy to miss. What about hosting an event in-person? Find a restaurant that would give you a percentage of sales for the night to go to him, and also take up a collection? Could you maybe throw a party and sell tickets, and donate the proceeds to him?
I know these sound like a lot of work for not much money. But I think that going online and appealing to strangers to help a stranger is going to be very challenging.
