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Working with Disabled Vets

By John Power, MBA, CFP® posted 08-19-2015 17:03

  

Today I met with nine veterans and their families from Homes for Our Troops to discuss how we will help them plan for their future and the future in the new homes.  It is terrific to know that so many donors are helping build brand new, first class homes that are fully handi-capped equipped for the young (and some not so young) veterans.  They are almost all missing a leg; sometimes two; need wheel-chair accessibility, have PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury.  But they all are positive, grateful, hopeful and looking forward.   Our planners do a terrific job of getting them prepared.  A few months ago I met a couple at a fund-raiser and discussed their FP experience.  They viewed their planner as a new friend; someone who stopped by to see how they were doing and how the kids were.  Sometimes we may connect even more strongly with these deserving pro bono clients than we might with those who pay us!  I also met a couple who wanted and needed one of these homes badly, but HFOT wouldn't proceed because they were financial basket cases.  In six months one of our volunteers worked hard with them, helped clear away a lot of debt, and HFOT said they were now ready.  A new family on the way to a new home and a new life thanks to an FPA volunteer.

I met a couple today who, although they were just beginning the process of getting in line for the new home, had already had their planner assigned.  I'll not name them (or him - privacy after all) but they said for the first time in their lives they had a plan and the confidence that there was a positive future.  I know we've all heard that from our clients, but to hear it from an amputee with a wife and three kids who now must start over; well that is special.  I'm personally working with a couple - he has TBI, PTSD, MS and is pretty much wheelchair bound.  Yet they have a great attitude and will be just fine.  It is a pleasure to work with folks who have extended themselves for us in such extreme ways.  

If you have a chance it would be great for you to share your experience with a discussion post on Pro Bono 360.  More of us need to appreciate what we do for our fellow citizens.  I think the Latin pro bono translates to "for good" and it is really good that we do.  A big thank you to everyone.  I wish I could give you a "shout-out" at BE but trust that this soldier knows what you do for us all.

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