After serving in the Navy for 15 years, including a tour in Desert Storm, Cory Champagne found himself back in civilian life and struggling.
When it all started, I had nothing so the feeling of I have nothing, so I don’t feel like I’m worth nothing.
Down on his luck, he turned to Americans for Independent Living, a non-profit organization focused on housing and supporting disabled, low-income, and homeless veterans in the Waterloo, IA area and a 2023 Lowe’s Hometowns grant recipient. Tim Combs, Executive Director and Founder of AFIL, created the concept in 2015 after inspiration struck. Since then, he’s made it his mission to help veterans get back on their feet and integrate back into civilian life.
When we walk away, they have a sense of being, something of their own, and they have us to support them.
That’s exactly how Cory Champagne felt after his time with AFIL. “I stayed with AFIL and lived in their transition house for a year. It wasn’t just to give you a place to stay and you take care of yourself, they said alright we’re going to help you do the things you need to do to get a job. So, I got a job and went to Lowe’s.”
Cory worked with Lowe’s for years until recently retiring, and all the while he’s been working to better Veterans' lives after they leave the military. Which is why, when Cory saw the opportunity to apply for a Lowe's Hometown grant, he went right to Lowe’s Store Manager, Rod Mochal, and got the ball rolling.
Really their biggest want and their biggest need was to have a place where people could get together.
AFIL received the grant money and now has plans to make their new space a pillar of support for veterans, including a community room where vets can come and swap stories, share space, and feel a sense of belonging. “Having a community room like this is going to be a big help in the area even for the elderly, especially the elderly, to have a place to get out of the house and come to and hopefully they can share their wisdom with the younger veterans.”
Tim Combs says the community room is just a small piece of a much bigger picture. “We need to stop the suicide rate among veterans and the homelessness rate amongst veterans. It needs to all go away. There shouldn’t be any of that right now in this country.”
Step by step, and vet by vet, AFIL is marching its way to creating a world where veterans don’t feel forgotten.
I’ve seen what it was like down being at the bottom AFIL helped take me out of that so basically it just gave me the self-worth.
