Today was a great day for our program as we were able to donate two gently used vehicles provided to our program to help veterans in need of transportation. This now makes 75 vehicles donated in nine years, and we are looking forward to reaching 100 maybe this year.

Nine years ago, working with a 100% VA-disabled veteran whose vehicle rolled over and died after 20 years, we were approached to see if our program could somehow help him as he had a family, a house and could not afford to purchase a new vehicle.

What came about from that meeting and request was the start of the Cherokee County Homeless Veteran Vehicle donation program, in partnership with American Legion Post 45 in Canton, Ga. Over the years, people in our community have been very generous in donating older high-mileage vehicles to our program for the purpose of helping veterans in need of transportation to get them to work, take their children to schools or take them to VA medical appointments, noted Jim Lindenmayer, Post 45 service officer and director of Cherokee County Homeless Veteran Program..

Cherokee County, like many other rural counties, does not have a robust county mass-transit system. The vehicles we donate to those vetted by our program have been a godsend to the veterans who receive a vehicle, as they now can do more with their life, get a better job or ensure they can make medical appointments.

We have been very grateful to our program partners, veteran-owned Patriot Towing and Christian Bros Automotive for making this program possible. Of the 75 vehicles donated, 71 are still on the road doing what they do best ... taking care of our veterans in need.