Hi my name is Melinda and I am a friend of Horace's. I met Horace just 7 months ago. I was referred to him by a neighbor of his stating he needed help getting his front yard under control. You see I manage a church ministry at Olive Branch Community Church called James Project Ministry.

"The James Project is a community of Christians committed to serving the local body, and our community through home repair and related services, to demonstrate God's love. Home repair services are available to single parents, low income, senior citizens, special needs families, the disabled and many others."

Well with that being said, I noticed that Horace needed more help than just his yard. His house was in disarray as he is not able to maintain it due to being a Disabled Veteran. He does his best but he can't do it all. Horace and I have become good friends since that day. I try to help him around the house a few days a week. I take him to physical training as one of our fellow church members offered to help him to walk on his artificial leg. Horace now goes to church regularly and is a greeter at Olive Branch.

He is a humble Veteran and is proud to have had the opportunity to serve his country and would do it again in a heart beat. He will tell you he was "young dumb and stupid" when he enlisted back in the 70's but he would do it again. Horace spent almost 30 years in the Army and is highly decorated and retire from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel earning many accolades such as the silver heart and the purple heart. He served in the Special Forces and among other services he was a Green Beret. He saved many lives while serving in Vietnam and continued his love for his country by going to college and earning a degree in Criminal Justice so he could become an officer.

Horace lost his leg about 10 years ago after many years of surgery after surgery. He had incurred a bad injury whilst parachuting from a Helicopter thousands of time.

Horace recently lost his wife of 30 years due to illness and has no family close by. Myself and another woman have befriended him because he is so lovable. Thanks to his neighbor, Horace has many new friends now.

Unfortunately, he has had a spell with bad luck. He would say without his bad luck he wouldn't have any luck. The fire department donated his red scooter to him last year but shortly after he started having problems with it. The fire department tried to get it fixed with the manufacturer but had a hard time getting in contact the company, so I told them I was retired and could make the time to get his scooter fix. Long story short, my church came to his rescue again. One of the guys in my small group just happened to know how to fix the scooter and fixed it for Horace. Horace was elated, he was on the go again.

Then his scooter died again. We soon found out his house was infested with rats. So I put a plea out on Facebook looking for an exterminator to could work with Horace and his finances and we found one. So we are in the process of eliminating the rats in his house unfortunately they have already reeked havoc on his home.

Recently, Horace was running his errands going to the Walmart and Vons to do his shopping and whilst waiting for the light to change at the corner of Ontario and Rimpau about 5 or 6 teenage boys on bikes came around him and one crashed into his scooter and broke off the fender. They just laughed and took off when the light turned green for them. Leaving Horace with a broken fender on the ground, which as an amputee is already hard to pick up anything off the floor.

He has various other household repair problems that we are slowly addressing one at a time. I could go into more detail but I think by now you get the jest of his life up until now.

So if you have it in your heart to donate to this fund so we can do the repairs on his scooter and more importantly his house, he would greatly appreciate it. If you would like to donate in kind with your services, such as plumbing, electrical or maintenance... Please feel free to contact me and I will let you know what needs to be done.

God has blessed us with a beautiful soul, so let 's bless Horace now. This money will help get Horace the quality of life he deserves because he gave his life so we can have the life we have today.

God bless and thank you all in advance for your love and support for Horace.