Where did you serve and what did you do?

7314 Hazelwood Ct

How are you Still Serving?

I volunteer my time and skills through the Fauquier and Rappahannock Habitat for Humanity Affiliate in Warrenton, VA. I give one or two days a week to the Restore and one or two days a week building a Habitat home for a deserving family needing a “Hand Up”. I also spend one or two days a week assisting Christ in Action, a faith-based disaster response group helping build their new headquarters and warehouse in Elkwood, VA. I also deployed three times with them to assist in disaster cleanup in New Burn, NC following Hurricane Florence in 2018 and twice to Panama City, FL doing the same thing in Hurricane Michael recovery. Throughout the year I devote two or three weeks leading volunteer crews of 3 to 15 participants building and maintaining hiking trails on public lands. These trips have taken me up and down the east coast from Maine to South Carolina and west to Tennessee and Georgia. I also travel with a Habitat for Humanity group that works with an affiliate to help build as much house as we can in a two-three day Blitz. I have traveled with this group since 2016 and have built in VA, WVA, MD, NC – twice, and this year in NY and NJ.

Why do you do it?

Throughout my military and subsequent working careers, I was focused on those requirements and my family. When I was approaching my retirement in 2016 I realized I needed to have something that would give me a reason to get up in the morning. Also, it was and is a way for me to give back to the country and community I live in that has been so good to me.