Disabled Vet Faces Losing Home, Vehicle & Becoming Homeless – His organization's mission to end Veteran suicide and create reform in the VA Will Be Lost Without Your Help to Share this!

Dear Friends and Supporters of Our Veterans,

My name is Bradley Zeman, and I am a disabled veteran in dire need of your support. Your generous contribution would prevent me from becoming homeless and allow me to continue this mission to save the lives of as many veterans as possible through this initiative.

For the past five years, the Community Healing Collaborative has created monthly, donation-based holistic healing retreats in Madison, WI. These retreats have been a lifeline for countless people, offering them access to alternative healing methods and a supportive community where everyone is welcome. Because of this they had grown exponentially and it has come time to expand them. This work allows us to combat the veteran suicide crisis by bringing awareness to the staggering statistic of 22 veteran suicides a day, providing veterans with healthy alternative solutions to help them on their healing journey, and challenge the VA's often pharmaceutical-heavy approach by showcasing effective, holistic alternatives. We’ve held different initiatives that focus solely on this mission, such as the Suicide awareness ice baths that teach people how to use cold therapy to help them get out of a mental crisis, and bringing awareness to the astonishingly high suicide statistics of 22 deaths each day. 

The reason I am so passionate about this mission is because I was once that veteran who became depressed, dealing with my demons, and it reached the point where I didn’t feel life was worth living anymore. I contemplated taking my own life but decided to try and get help from the VA. I quickly learned how challenging the VA system was in dealing with veterans' mental health issues outside the realm of pharmaceutical intervention and swore that another fallen soldier would not be left without more options to facilitate their healing path. So I became a massage therapist and learned EVERYTHING I could about holistic healing because I will never forget sitting in that doctors office and have her tell me I had the option to take one of the two medications she was suggesting (I cried hysterically as I attempted to explain to her about holistic healing and different approaches besides these pharmaceuticals that I could explore but the VA had NOTHING at that time and still have very little in terms of those resources). So I choose one of the two pharmaceuticals she offered me and as I read the warnings of the symptoms that I may go blind, or not get an erection, I decided I would not rest until I have perfected a model of holistic healing to save people from that money-making racket.

Inspired by the success of our with many different events in Madison, WI, I was embarking on the next critical phase of the mission: a cross-country journey to expand these healing retreats nationwide and connect with veteran organizations that share our vision for better veteran care.

Tragically, this dream has hit a devastating roadblock. My van, the mobile heart of this mission, has been impounded. Due to a sudden cascade of turbulent personal challenges, I don’t have the funds to get my van out of impound. In a twist of irony, I have ended up becoming homeless myself while continuing to work towards ending veteran homelessness. Now I face losing my van/living situation permanently if I don’t come up with the money in 48 hours. I explained my situation to 3 different people in their company, hoping to appeal to someone who would hear my story and get them to release my vehicle from impound so I can continue my mission end veteran homelessness and not end up a homeless veteran myself. None of them cared about my story, and the last person even mocked me for asking if it was possible to get my vehicle out for free so I wouldn’t become a homeless veteran on the streets. It made me very sad to see the lack of empathy for someone who was injured while serving their country, received from this government-contracted company. 

So I spent the last month on the streets trying to figure out how to get my van out of impound while navigating how to be homeless but I've ran out of options now. I didn’t want to share this story due to the shame of becoming homeless and having to ask for money. But I was inspired by a friend who expressed that it is ok to call on my brothers and sisters who took the same oath I did when entering the military to never leave a fallen soldier behind, ESPECIALLY if it is for helping our veteran brothers and sisters who are facing homelessness or health issues. I feel like we are leaving fallen soldiers behind when we understand how broken the VA's system is, but don’t take the proper steps towards empowering those who are attempting to evolve it.

Without the funds to get my van out of impound and make necessary repairs, this entire cross-country journey to bring healing and awareness to disabled veterans will end before it truly begins. The opportunity to empower more veterans and advocate for systemic change within the VA to ensure we are actively making efforts to lower the veteran suicide rate would be placed on hold. I will never give up on this mission, and I am dedicating my life to continuing this fight until the veteran suicide rate has at least dropped into the single digits each day, which is still unacceptable in my book, but it is a reasonable starting goal to fight towards. 

This is where we desperately need your help.

We believe that by reaching the right people, we can reach our immediate goal of getting the van operational and also go on to receive the necessary funding for our first community healing facility. We don’t see this as the end of our story, but rather the culmination of the hero's journey. That point when all seems lost, the hopeless situation that births ultimate transformation and an inspiring call to arms of the supporters of this journey. Please, could you share this story and our urgent need with your networks? Forward this go fund me to any individuals, veteran support groups, or organizations you know that may be willing to help/donate to this critical cause. Every share broadens the chance of finding the support needed to get this veterans home back and his mission on the road again. 

We are choosing to look at this tragedy as a blessing. We are looking to use this platform to launch the funding for the larger scale initiative of getting our own healing center. The immediate goal to get the van out of impound and the proper repairs it needs to get on the road is only $3,000. But we are treating this tragedy as a divine blessing to bring awareness to our mission. We are putting out a goal of reaching $222,222 to fund multiple locations across the country. We chose that number based on the veteran suicide rate being 22 deaths a day, and we wish to shift those 2s to represent a more positive, hopeful number made possible by the miracle of angel donors like you who refuse to be ok with 22 veteran suicides a day.  

With the donations, we will be using them to purchase empty plots of land where we can host retreats and build extremely cheap structures. We are currently looking at utilizing shipping containers as our primary storage/housing units as we may be able to ascertain cheap or donated containers through military centered initiatives for disabled veterans ( if you have any connections that would help us secure a contract for donated shipping containers for a disabled veteran owned organization, please do let us know. We are currently working on establishing a fiscal sponsorship with a 501c3 Non-profit we are creating a partnership with so all donations will be tax-deductible once we implement that organization. We apologize for not having that setup already; we have just been pouring every once of our energy into constructing all of this right now, but we should have that linked by later today. Thank you for your patience and your support in making this movement move!)

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for considering how you can help us spread the word. Together, we can ensure this vital healing journey continues.

Click the link below to see how you can become a part of the movement and learn more about The Community Healing Collaboratives initiatives. https://linktr.ee/Healing4Heroes

Also, don't forget to join our facebook group to support us, make this movement move and keep up to date about the upcoming healing events. https://www.facebook.com/share/1ASwYXSMkZ/

Sincerely,

Bradley Zeman and The Community Healing Collaborative Team