Service Members Giving Back to Their Communities

The 39th president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, now 94, is well known for his work with Habitat for Humanity and building homes for the needy. Last year, Carter helped start a health clinic in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, after the town had been without a physician for months. He also leased a portion of his property for use as a solar farm to provide energy for the town.

Christina Finley, Honolulu 1st Service Platoon Leader for the veterans volunteer group the Mission Continues, is on a mission in Hawaii to protect the state’s water. She and her volunteers are helping install low impact flushing devices, called “stealth rain gardens,” to the island’s drainage system that purge plants, soil, pebbles and pollutants from the water to feed cleaner water back into the ecosystem.

Navy veteran Harold “Hal” Reed, an 80-year-old veteran of Denton,Texas, got an email from his volunteer organization Team Rubicon to help those people whose homes were flooded out when Hurricane Harvey struck Texas two years ago. Reed helped rip down wet drywall off the walls from flooded areas because mold can quickly grow on damp drywall. “We don’t get paid in money,” said Reed on the Team Rubicon website, “we get paid in hugs and handshakes.”

For over 16 years, retired Army soldiers Mel Ortega and Bernardo Jaramillo have taken disabled veterans to the hospital for medical treatment in New Mexico. Ortega, in his 80s, has driven 200,000 miles providing the service, while Jaramillo, who was wounded in Vietnam, has driven 100,000 miles. The two provided their service through the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans.

Many veterans have entered the political arena to serve their communities, and Pete Buttigieg is among the more famous. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is running for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Before his political career, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was deployed in Afghanistan for seven months and earned a commendation for his counterterrorism work.

Rhonda Schlumpberger, a fellow at the Mission Continues veteran volunteer group, was a volunteer at the Fallbrook Pregnancy Resource Center in Fallbrook, California. During her six-month fellowship, she served as the center’s brand manager, working with social media and marketing resources to raise awareness of the services at the center, which helps women deal with crisis pregnancies. The center provides services such as mentoring childbirth, parenting classes, and other resources that are free.

Urban Warriors is a program of the YMCA of Metro Chicago’s Youth Safety and Violence Prevention initiative. The program pairs military veterans, many of them combat vets, with at-risk youth, vulnerable to the city’s violence and gang culture. The vets share life experiences and how to cope in a violent environment.

Every Christmas Eve, more than 1,500 military personnel volunteer at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to track Santa’s path and keep kids updated on Kris Kringle’s journey. Youngsters can follow Santa on NORAD’s Santa Tracker hotline or on the agency’s website. The tradition goes back to the 1950s, when Sears misprinted its phone number and listed the NORAD number. The military didn’t want to disappoint the kids, so they fielded phone calls and reassured them that Santa was on his way.

Stacy Munn used her six-month Mission Continues fellowship to work at the Women’s Center of Jacksonville, Florida to help traumatized women. Munn, a Navy vet and the sole caretaker of her two children, said the experience at the center filled her with a new sense of purpose.

Air Force veteran Vanessa Thomas followed in the footsteps of her father, who served in the Air Force for 24 years. After she left the military, Thomas still wanted to serve, so she became involved in the Boys and Girls Club in North Carolina through the Mission Continues veteran volunteer group. Thomas said the organization emphasized positive decision-making and a healthy lifestyle, and she focused on mentoring the youths to believe in themselves.

Army veteran Traci Rankin served as incident commander with Team Rubicon during flood relief in Missouri in 2016 and helped flood victims in Louisiana and Illinois in 2017. Rankin, a retired police lieutenant, also sits on the board of The Alley, a teen center in Dodge City, Kansas, that promotes safe activities for youngsters.

Navy veteran Tonya Cook put her IT and math knowledge to use during her six-month Mission Continues fellowship at The Women’s Center of Jacksonville, Florida. She taught a continuing education class for the women, some of whom had been incarcerated and were being reintegrated into society. Cook said the women were so grateful that they gave her a surprise birthday party.

Christina “Chrissy” Houlahan, daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, is a freshman congresswoman from Pennsylvania. She spent three years on active duty in the Air Force after graduating from Stanford University. While in the service, Houlahan served as a project manager focused on air and space defense technologies. After her military service, Houlahan served in executive positions at retail companies and founded the nonprofit B-Lab, an organization that measures a company’s social and environmental performance.

Major Scott Smiley is the Army’s first blind active-duty officer. In 2005, Smiley was blinded by a suicide bomber in Iraq. Despite the incident, Smiley continued to serve his country. He spent a year at West Point as an instructor and received the prestigious MacArthur Leadership Award. Smiley also remained physically active, jumping with the Army’s Parachute Team. He serves on the advisory board of the Veterans Airlift Command that provides free air transportation for veterans wounded in combat and their families.

Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife uses the combat skills of veterans to protect endangered wildlife in South Africa from poachers. Park rangers run the risk of being attacked by poachers who seek ivory tusks or horns of animals, so veterans are utilized to protect the rangers from poachers.

Marine Corps veteran Rose Feroah is an entrepreneur and a mother. Feroah is also the Mission Continues 4th Platoon leader in Washington, D.C. and helps build ties with the community by working with the National Park Service to tend to the ,parks in the northeastern and southeastern sections of the city. The platoon created gardens, built compost bins, and restored bee farms.

Shannon Doty became involved with the Mission Continues veteran volunteer group in Minneapolis after the police shooting of an African American man, Philando Castile, became national news. She wanted to do her part to lessen racial tension by working in North Minneapolis, an underserved area of the community. Doty’s goal was to build trust with communities of color and give assistance wherever she could. Doty helped repaint rooms and build shelves at the neighborhood’s community center.

Army veteran Majken Gelman, who grew up in Chicago as the eldest child of a single mom, learned in the military about brotherhood and supporting those around you. In Los Angeles, Gelman is focused on developing youngsters and educating them in Boyle Heights, a low-income section of eastern Los Angeles, and creating ties with area’s schools and organizations.

Mike Abrams is a Marine Corps veteran who joined the Marines after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He founded the FourBlock Foundation, which helps veterans to transition into business careers. Under his leadership, FourBlock expanded to 12 cities across the country. He is also the executive director for the Columbia University Center for Veteran Transition and Integration.

Gil Cisneros is part of the 2019 freshmen congressional class — he is also a veteran. Cisneros is a Democrat who has won a seat in California’s 39th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. He served in the Navy for 10 years before transitioning to civilian life. After he was laid off from his job, his wife won $266 million in a Mega Millions jackpot. They became philanthropists and established education endowments for Latino students at George Washington University and the University of Southern California.