Helping Our Veterans Transition. Alan Alford, Vice President, Fighting For Our Heroes Foundation Inc

Every Tuesday I hope to have a guest blogger feature certain initiatives or efforts going on in Central Florida. Know of someone? Send me their information here! - Kelly

“Thank You, For Your Service”

By: Alan Alford

Vice President, Fighting For Our Heroes Foundation, Inc.

How many times have you seen a service member in uniform or wearing a ball cap that identifies him or her as a veteran and then thanked them for their military service? We all do this. A little way we can say thanks for protecting our freedom. While a thank you is always appreciated and welcomed, I'd like to shed some light on the challenges our veterans face after their military service ends. You might be surprised.

Some veterans have many difficulties transitioning back into society and the civilian workforce because their military occupations do not translate into the civilian world. Others have severe life changing medical issues from their military service. Either way, most civilians are under the impression that when a service member returns home, they will be taken care of in an acceptable standard and in a timely manner. After all, if you have a slip and fall accident at your job, you reasonably, expect that workman’s compensation will begin paying you within a month or so to help out with your loss in earnings, right?

Currently the VA’s national backlog of pending disability compensation claims sits at 603,909 with an average wait time of 326.3 days. In Florida, which has the third highest veteran population in the U.S., there are currently 40,928 disability compensation claims pending with an average wait time of 313 days. Then if the applicant does not agree with the VA’s decision, your only recourse is to file a “Notice of Disagreement” which takes another year, request a “De Novo Review” which takes close to 2 years, or file an appeal with the “Board of Veterans Appeals” which can take upwards of 4 years. This is why so many veterans become upset, discouraged and ultimately give up. After all, they each signed up to fight for their country, not to fight against it!

For all these reasons, we began the Fighting For Our Heroes Foundation. Twenty years ago, I was in this exact situation myself. As a severely disabled veteran who spent close to 4 years in a hospital bed, fighting, not only to walk again, but also to receive the veteran’s benefits I was entitled to receive just to support my family. Throughout this period of my life, my spouse and I were forced to fight through mountains of red tape and bureaucracy from an ICU ward. During that time we kept praying that if we could just make it through this, we would continue fighting tirelessly to help others not have to endure that cold dark walk alone, as we did.

Over the years since then, we have assisted over 70,000 veterans, service members and their families with various challenges they have faced since their military service came to an end. Many are served through our flagship program “Veterans Benefits Support”, which teaches veterans benefits in an online, interactive format using layman’s terms to our 19,150 active members. Numerous other programs which include:

• Online Benefits Resource and Video Library
• Veterans Benefits Lecturing Programs
• Disabled Veterans Fishing Program
• Veterans Workforce Development Program
• Care Package Program
• PTSD Peer Mentoring Program
• Support Networks- for various segments of the veteran population
• Homeless Veterans Outreach Program

Read this testimonial of a Veteran we were able to help. Just think about how many more there are out there.

"Dear Alan, I just wanted to let you know how much you helped me. When we spoke last year I was so confused with the whole process. You not only gave me accurate information but you seemed to understand what I was going through and gave me the courage to file my NOD. My VSO said they will never approve it and that filing a NOD could actually lower my rating. Today I was approved at 100% IU with retro from 2011. Thank god for veterans like you. I will surely pay it forward. - Rob Gravel (from NY)"

So how can you help? Our foundation acts as a conduit to bring both goods and services to our local veterans that need them the most. We are always in need of donations of various types of professional services for our veterans. Services like legal assistance, car and home repairs, resume assistance, tax preparation and many other areas as well. Additionally, we continually need the donation of gas and store gift cards, fishing and camping equipment, clothing, hygiene products, canned and dried foods, furniture, cell phones and computer equipment. Most importantly we need your time though to assist us in helping our fellow veterans. Our organization is made up of 100% volunteers that dedicate their time and energy in order to show each veteran how thankful we are for their military service. Please join us in fulfilling this mission in our community. 

Sincerely,

Alan Alford

Vice President- Fighting For Our Heroes Foundation Inc

http://www.ffohf.org/

Follow us on Facebook!