While the COVID19 pandemic has impacted all of us, especially hit hard have been our Veterans. Many were already suffering from service-related injuries or being challenged with mental health issues and limited incomes.
During the fall season of 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic flared up across the United States with an increased wave of new cases and deaths throughout the civilian and Veteran communities.
Hundreds of blankets were lovingly created and donated to give to households in need by the Caring Crafters this past year.
With yarn and a mission of giving back in a unique, handmade way, the Caring Crafters continue to show how small acts can make a huge difference in the surrounding community.
The group, comprised of more than 50 people, meets regularly in the Watertown area to handcraft items such as hats, scarves, mittens, blankets, and more for local charities.
The bond that’s been formed between KWWCF/Heat and Housing for Heroes and organizations across the state has led to thousands of veterans and their families receiving assistance and not worrying about basic necessities such as heat and housing.
Wayne Harris of 6AM Marketing, shown here accepting the award for Volunteer of the Year from KWW/CF Chief Spokesperson and Founder, Tim Bruer at the 17th Annual KWW/CF Charity Golf Classic and Silent Auction.
All it took was for Wayne Harris to experience firsthand the thousands of veterans living across Wisconsin without heat every winter.
Harris, an Army Reservist Vietnam War-era veteran and the president of Madison-based 6AM Marketing, has long been a supporter and partner with the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund and Heat and Housing for Heroes. He caught wind of the many who are forced to decide between heat and affording meals through a former employee whose daughter returned from a deployment in Iraq and found herself in that very situation.
David J. Hosking, Outreach Specialist with the Wisconsin Vet Centers shown here with a co-worker in front of the Vet Center Mobile van at the KWW/CF Golf Classic
After serving for nearly 30 years, Dave Hosking has become very familiar with the difficulties that burden service members upon their return home from deployments and separation from the military.
Hosking, an Army and National Guard veteran who served in both Vietnam and Iraq, has been on the frontlines and realizes the vital needs of veterans. He tries to help solve them every day, too, as an outreach specialist for the Madison Vet Center, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-affiliated facility that works to perform readjustment counseling for combat veterans and their families.
Mike and John Schmidt, from Schmidt Auto Inc., as caricatures featured on the back of the vintage ice cream truck that the brothers donated and refurbished for KWW/CF to use at ice cream socials around the state.
Longtime supporters of the community, as soon as Mike and John Schmidt heard what KWWCF/Heat and Housing for Heroes was doing, they wanted to extend a helping hand to families in need, especially struggling veterans.
The Schmidts, co-owners of Schmidt’s Auto Inc., were immediately sold on the idea, offering to help the organization in any way. The family-owned business gifted and restored a converted ice cream truck for use in fundraising and outreach activities. Recognizing the importance of the impact the Divco ice cream truck has had, later unexpectedly, the family also contributed a converted van. The “vet mobile” has proven not only to be invaluable for special veteran events but with its patriotic graphics it too has become an incredible crowd pleaser.
The Heat for Heroes van, generously donated and maintained by Schmidt Auto Inc., travels around the state of WI to raise awareness and funds for Veterans facing energy-related emergencies.
The impact KWWCF/Heat and Housing for Heroes has on veterans and their families wouldn’t be possible without its relationship with those who serve veterans throughout the state. It’s those boots on the ground who hear firsthand from the veterans and families who are struggling that allows KWWCF/Heat and Housing for Heroes to lend a hand.
The need for a grassroots effort to help those in need became clear during a bitterly-cold winter in the 1980s.
The awareness of the growing number of people enduring life-threatening situations was amplified by the tragic death of hypothermia of an elderly woman during that winter. Months later, do to her utilities being disconnected at no fault of her own, an elderly and disabled victim also died of heat stroke during the stifling hot summer with no place to turn.
Something needed to be done, and the community acted to assure those most vulnerable during Wisconsin’s harsh seasons wouldn’t face a crisis, like being unable to afford power or heat, alone.
Energy Services Inc. was founded as a survival safety net for those in need of assistance for power or heating, and the initiative has grown to help low-income households across the state during times of need. But programs such as that wouldn’
United States’ military Veterans are among the least likely to come forward to ask for help in times of trouble, even when they find themselves facing life threatening situations. Pride is often the principle barrier for Veterans in receiving this much needed assistance. Recognizing this, Services, Inc. and the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund launched its statewide Heat and Housing for Heroes Campaign a few years ago.
For nearly 90 years, the thing that’s helped make Madison-based Schoep’s Ice Cream a leader in the industry has been its reliance on family and community.
Keeping much of the same formula over the years, Schoep’s has tried to give back wherever there was an opportunity. So, when Tim Bruer, Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund and Heat and Housing for Heroes Founder, approached Schoep’s CEO/President Al Thomsen with a chance to do just that, he didn’t hesitate. Instead, he jumped into action.
Booths such as the one pictured above staffed by Noel Ayala of Heat for Heroes, help get information on vital assistance out to those Veterans in need.
Faced with the possibility of living in homelessness, a military veteran and family in Douglas County recently became one of the thousands of America’s heroes that Heat for Heroes has supported with life-changing assistance.
Having used up all savings and taking a leave of absence from work to care for their spouse, who was suffering from a rare illness, and children, the veteran was unable to afford utility and rent payments. But, with the intervention of Douglas County Veterans Service Officer Brian Erickson and Heat for Heroes, the family no longer had to worry, as a collaborative effort between multiple entities covered the expenses.
For the past 23 years, the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund has relied on the countless partnerships it’s built throughout the state to reach thousands of at-risk households.
Whether it be community-based businesses donating funds to the cause or large-scale corporations raising awareness, the KWW/CF can always depend on the incredible relationships it’s built.
Among the KWW/CF’s longest bonds has been with area trade organizations and steamfitters, who are responsible for helping identify at-risk individuals in need of assistance.
