Nathan served in the Army during some of the worst parts of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. From 2001-2009, he was an armored vehicle crew member where he was constantly surrounded by exploding roadside bombs.

One day, while Nathan was on his second deployment to Iraq, he received a call from his mother. His wife had just dropped their two young children off at his parent’s house and left. They never heard from her again. When Nathan returned home from war, he was stranded, alone with his two small children, abandoned by their mother. He found a job, but soon lost it because of complications from PTSD. With no income and two children to support, Nathan desperately needed help.

He and his children were able to find temporary transitional housing in Maryland for 6 months, but were literally living on just $499 of food stamps a month. However, Nathan’s determination to provide for his family remained undeterred. His grit finally paid off when he was accepted into a first responder training program to become a firefighter. However, the training would last 9 months with no pay. Nathan had no idea how he would continue to feed his two children, pay for gas, school supplies, and warm clothes during that time. Nathan’s back was against the wall, but he was determined to provide a better life for his two children. So he reached out to Code of Support Foundation for help.

We were able to set him up with a benefits claims expert to get Nathan’s paperwork passed through the VA bureaucracy. We worked with Toys for Tots to make sure his children had gifts for Christmas. But more importantly, we got him the emergency financial assistance he needed to finish firefighter training without having to decide whether to put gas in the car or food on the table.

Today, Nate lives happily with his two children in California where he is a full time firefighter.

IMPACT

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