It’s a new year! For this homeless veteran, 2022 means finding a home.
Vietnam Veteran Terry Ashenbrenner spent over a month living in different hotels. But as of yesterday, he finally found a place to call home. Now, this is the New Year’s surprise he’s been truly waiting for.
On November 23rd, the veteran lost his home to a horrific fire that erupted in an apartment building in the town of Dewey, WI. Just a few days after the fire took away his beloved home, he was diagnosed with cancer. During the night of the fire, Ashenbrenner revealed to NewsChannel 7 that his landlord kicked open his door and told him to get out of the building. Thankfully, no injuries were reported as a result of the fire.
“This is a good new year for me…things are looking up. I’m not used to so much room,” Ashenbrenner told reporters.
Once news broke about the veteran’s joyous news, phone calls and emails began coming in. People have been quite fascinated by his story. The helpful people who assisted in finding Ashenbrenner a home range from friendly faces in his community to The Man of Honor Society.
“There are so many people I need to thank here,” he said.
How Others Have Assisted Homeless Veterans
With the help of his neighbor, Richard Peterson, the veteran was able to find his next home. “When I first found out about it, I started looking for houses. I told them [members of Veteran’s Weekly Cup of Coffee at Denny’s] about Terry’s situation and so I called Terry and told him to get over there right away.”
“It’s an uplifting time, especially during the holidays, to have him in a house instead of in a hotel, it means a lot to me. I feel for people and God’s blessed me and I like to help out other people,” he continued.
Earlier this summer, a New Jersey teenager found a way to give back to homeless veterans. Michael Ferrara raised $12,000 on his own to assist homeless vets. He raised the money through fundraisers at his school, and by asking people he knew for donations.
After coming across a social media challenge, Ferrara grew passionate about helping vets in need. The Houses for Warriors nonprofit made a challenge to raise awareness about veteran suicide and at-risk homeless vets.
“I decided to raise money for a Colorado nonprofit living in New Jersey because a homeless veteran is a homeless veteran. “Our veterans have fought for all 50 states, not just one. So, I feel it would be wrong of me to not raise money for homeless veterans just because they happen to live in a different state.” The teenager discussed with Fox News.
We applaud Michael Ferrara for his work for homeless veterans, and we congratulate Terry Ashenbrenner on his home-sweet-home!
