Our veterans are crucial to life as we know it today because they protect our freedom, provide us with a way to learn about our history, and risk their lives for people they have never met. In 2022, Mississippi had 146,793 veterans, 6.5% of the state’s adult population. The largest group of veterans in Mississippi served during the Vietnam era. Like everyone, veterans can fall on hard times, but they may often be reluctant to seek help for a variety of reasons.
Many nonprofits in Mississippi seek to meet Veterans’ needs, big or small. Foundations like 5th Squad provide swift and effective financial assistance to Veterans in crisis. 5th Squad supports those who have served their country honorably by addressing urgent needs such as utilities, housing, and groceries, regardless of their military affiliation, era of service, service component, service branch, rank, sex, race, or ethnicity. Through a commitment to dignity, respect, and inclusivity, the 5th Squad strives to empower Veterans to overcome financial hardships and build resilience in times of adversity.
Other organizations help veterans with more significant needs, like housing. Purple Heart Homes, Inc. is a 501(c) nonprofit on a mission to provide substantial function, design, and quality housing solutions for service-connected disabled and aging veterans of all eras—fit to welcome home the fighting men and women of America. While not stationed in Mississippi, Purple Heart Homes partners with Mississippi-based nonprofit 7 Day for the Troops to provide veterans with long-term housing solutions.
7 Days For The Troops” was started in 2006 by Scott Burns, a Marine Veteran with a service-connected disability. Burns wanted to do something to support our men and women fighting overseas, so he built a 20-foot-high tower outside The Mall at Barnes Crossing Mall in Tupelo, Mississippi, where he would stay for seven days (168 hours). The campaign turned into an annual event, through which Burns and his family raised tens of thousands of dollars for American service members and veterans’ programs by collecting donations from sponsors, raffle drawings, and creative fundraising challenges among the audience.
During Burns’s last 7 Days for the Troop event, he heard about 70-year-old US Army Veteran Frankie Dunn, who needed housing in Oxford, Mississippi.
“I was getting ready for my Tupelo event in June,” shared Burns. “Someone found out what we do and asked if we could renovate a storage building for a retired vet he was living in.”
Frankie Dunn and his wife had lived in a mobile home in Lafayette County until her passing. Sadly, the home they shared burnt down, and during the process, Dunn converted a storage building into where to live until he could figure things out. Things never got figured out, and no one knew about Dunn’s living situation until he suffered a stroke and homecare had to be administered.
“We saw pictures and realized that a veteran should not live in something like this,” explained Burns. “I contacted our friends with Purple Heart Homes, and they had a tiny home ready at their facility in North Carolina. They agreed to bring it and participate in what we are doing.”
The Oxford community stepped up, too, to help Mr. Dunn. From contractors to volunteers and donations, the tiny home was delivered and paid for, and a deck was built on the front of his house to make it wheelchair accessible.
“At first, Mr. Frankie didn’t want the help,” shared Burns. “But I explained that he deserved it, and with some convincing, he agreed to accept the help and new home.”
Purple Heart Homes and 7 Days for the Troops have come together to gift a veteran in Winona, Mississippi, a tiny home for safe and reliable housing.
“We can make this project like this possible because of partnerships with other nonprofits like Purple Heart Homes,” explained Burns. “And the efforts and donations from Mississippians.
Burns’s next 7 Days for the Troops event will be around Thanksgiving 2024 at the Outlet Mall of Mississippi in Pearl, Mississippi.
