Over the past four weeks, Thomas M. Brady American Legion Post 45 - in partnership with the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans program - have donated six vehicles to veterans in need across the state of Georgia. The recipients were two formerly homeless female veterans, a formerly homeless male veteran who needed a vehicle to support getting to work at a local company, and three 100% SC veterans who could not afford to purchase a vehicle that would take them to VA medical appointments.
The veterans were from four different services: Marines, Army, Navy and Air Force. One had been using Uber to get back and forth to his job 10 miles away during his vetting process. He had been homeless for over 18 months with no ability to get to a job. Our program helped him get a job that supports him with over $25/hour based on his skill set, and now he is rebuilding his life.
“Many people take it for granted that transportation in urban areas is a given; however, living in a rural area with no large transportation infrastructure really puts a strain on our veterans trying to get and hold a good-paying job.” noted Jim Lindenmayer, Post 45 service officer and director of the Cherokee County program. “Our program from day 1, nine years ago, was all about making sure disabled, homeless, or low-income veterans with small children could get needed transportation. Our program is unique in that we do not obtain and then sell donated vehicles at auction to offset program costs; we actually pay to fix donated vehicles up and give them to veterans. To date we have paid for over $140,000 in repairs to the 94 vehicles to get them roadworthy and safe to drive.
“Our goal is to get to 100 donated vehicles by the end of 2026,” Lindenmayer went on to add. We just got #95 donated this week to our program.