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Help Me Create a Permanent Caregiving Home for a Vietnam Combat Vet (Philadelphia)
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After spending many years in the restaurant business, I became a professional caregiver in 2015. I have worked for my current home-care company since 2017, and since 2021, I have been the live-in caregiver for the same elderly Vietnam combat Veteran, providing his care seven days a week, 16 hours a day.
When I first began caring for him, he weighed just 72 pounds and was living in conditions no elderly or disabled person should have to endure. Today, he weighs approximately 140 pounds. He lives in a clean, comfortable environment, receives regular medical attention, has a barber who comes to the home, and receives regular manicures and pedicures. He has something especially important: stability and consistent care from someone who knows him and his needs.
I am now working toward purchasing a permanent home designed around providing safe, dignified live-in care.
I am asking individuals, businesses, Veterans and their families, philanthropists, and anyone touched by this idea to consider making a financial gift toward the purchase of that home.
I want to be completely transparent about what I am proposing.
The home would be purchased and owned by me, the caregiver. The Veteran I currently care for would live there and receive his care there for as long as he needs it.
And the mission would not necessarily end with him.
If I am fortunate enough to still be here when his life comes to an end, my intention is for the property to remain a caregiving home. I would continue doing the work I began in 2015, providing another person in need with the opportunity to receive professional care in a real home environment.
In other words, I am not asking the public to purchase a temporary residence for one individual. I am trying to establish a permanent caregiving home—owned and maintained by an experienced professional caregiver—where this Veteran can receive his care today and where another person may receive that same dignity and stability in the future.
This is not an investment opportunity. I am not offering repayment, ownership, interest, or a financial return. I am simply asking for gifts from people who believe this is a worthwhile idea and would like to help make it possible.
No gift is too small. One thousand people giving $10 becomes $10,000 toward a home. A larger contribution from an individual, business, or philanthropist could bring this project considerably closer to reality.
I would also welcome offers from businesses or tradespeople interested in donating goods or services once the right property is found—accessibility improvements, plumbing, electrical work, flooring, appliances, furnishings, landscaping, or other improvements that could make the property an exceptional caregiving home.
For serious prospective donors, I can provide reasonable documentation verifying my professional caregiving history and current caregiving arrangement while protecting the Veteran's identity, medical information, and privacy.
Maybe one person reading this can make an extraordinary difference. Maybe hundreds of people can each make a small one.
Either way, I believe this is worth asking for.
If you would like to help create a permanent caregiving home—beginning with a Vietnam combat Veteran who deserves to spend this chapter of his life receiving safe, consistent and dignified care—please contact me through this posting.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.