Looking back down the road, the National Association of American Veterans, Inc. has received several wonderful testimonies. As we look back, we thank you for allowing our organization to touch so many lives. Here’s a quick walk back down the paths from January through October 2017.
January 2017: NAAV Provides Financial Assistance
Dear Mrs. Burns,
My family wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank you and your organization National Association of American Veterans Inc. (NAAV). The financial assistance and moral support your agency has provided to my family over the last four years has helped us tremendously! My family consists of my wife and I and five children. During the last four years we lived in a small rural town named Marble Falls, TX. My wife and I were gainfully employed; however, our income combined was not enough to support our family. Therefore, my family experienced financial hardship consistently. Fortunately, with the generous and compassionate support from you (Mrs. Burns) and your agency we were able to maintain our basic needs. Without your assistance, we wouldn’t have been able to find the information and assistance that my family has benefited from, which assisted us in tremendous ways.
Sincerely,
The Jerome Family
March–May: NAAV Supports Veterans
NAAV received a wonderful testimony this past March from Navy Veteran Dwayne Summage:
This is my testimony, a Navy Vet whose been diagnosed with TBI, and PTSD. Ever since the age of 17, struggling and looking for acceptance, I got introduced to JESUS CHRIST. Shortly after, I went on to join the Navy where I made a family within two years of being in (a wife and two daughters: ages 14 years and 12 years).
Within 15 years of being in the Navy, I struggled with PTSD without even knowing the effects of it. It took a toll on my family, and soon destroyed us as a unity. Throughout my career, I’ve served in Al Asad, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay Cuba, in Camp Delta. I decided to get out at the end of my enlistment, for it left my daughters devastated as I was, not even knowing it. At that time, I was newly divorced.
In 2013, I [went] back out to the civilian world, not having a clue on how to adjust, for I didn’t receive TAPS class for transition. At that point, life became even more complicated. In 2014, I was checked in to a VA medical center in Memphis, TN, where I worked receiving treatment for PTSD for my inability on how to adjust for major depression disorder and anxiety. My daughters lived in Charleston, SC, all the while, which I knew was important for me to get to them.
Miraculously, the Lord sent me a soulmate veteran who had gone through a similar path I had gone through. She lived in Savannah in 2015, and I’ve known her since July 2015. Because we both wanted what was best for our children, we decided to make the continued sacrifice of taking our income and sleeping in our vehicles to support our children. One day we mustered up faith to make a call to Washington, DC, while we were having ongoing issues at Atlanta during the evaluation.
We called Ms. Constance Burns, who wholeheartedly goes beyond the cusp for the veterans and seems to exemplify Christ in ALL that she does, made the transition so much smoother for us to stay and for our children to eat. We didn’t know how they were going to eat. There have been many times I wanted to throw in the towel. But out of nowhere, the phone will ring, “a ring of hope to keep pressing on,” it’s Ms. Constance Burns just calling just to see how I’m doing. Tears began to stream down my face . . . someone who STILL cares, someone who’s still FIGHTING ON OUR BEHALF and knows the true battles we face on a daily basis, someone who INTERCEDES . . .
God bless . . . My testimony . . . Dwayne Summage
Edith and Melvin Wright, May 2017 (Disabled American Veteran)
Hi Constance: after lots of rest and talking to Melvin about not worrying his blood pressure went back normal thank you for those encouraging words and all your prayers God is good thank you for all you have done for me and Melvin we are grateful God is good.
Robert “Bob” Neville, May 2017
Good Morning Mrs. Burns:
I Am Eternally Grateful For All You Are Doing With The VA
Thank You & God Bless You. Robert Neville
One of the many recipients of NAAV’s Respite Care Program was afforded a refreshing break at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia, in June. Below are simple words of thanks and a testimony to the rewards of rest:
Blessings to you Ms. Burns, I read your writing about the past five years of your organizing, and NAAV has been a tremendous blessing to so many caregivers and veterans. We thank you so much for all the time and effort you have devoted to us. Through you, we have learned to trust in God and think outside the box. Thank you for caring about us. Lola
July 2017: Transitional Care
NAAV provides assistance from the DC Medical Center’s VSO Benefits Office in Washington, DC, Transition Care and Management Center:
Dear Ms. Burns, I want to thank you for helping me to complete my paperwork for my pension and disability. Your willingness to work with me despite your numerous duties and responsibilities was touching and I want you to know that I appreciate and recognize your kind gesture. With gratitude, yours Gregory Robinson
August: VA Medical Center
I thank the Lord I was sent to the DC VA Medical Center with my husband Marco a Veteran who has been missing for 27 years since 1992. I thank God for Ms. Burns, and the NAAV for all their assistance in filing for my husband’s benefits. I thank NAAV for all the caregiving information including respite care provided during my first visit to their office. I thank my heavenly Father for finding my husband and giving him back to me. I am so very grateful for all the support I am receiving to help me be a good caregiver for my beloved husband! Bernadette O., caregiver and spouse, Washington, DC
Thanks, NAAV for the best assistance I have had for Claims and Benefits. I’ve been trying to receive assistance for at least 15 years, and today on August 21, 2017, I am giving all the credit to my heavenly Father with many best wishes to Ms. Burns. Mary L., Washington, DC
A note of thanks from Mr. Lark:
Hello Constance,
I want to thank you so very much for your kindness. You are truly an Angel. Please extend my sincerest gratitude to David Brog for his kindness as well. If it had not been for you and David, I would not have been able to pay my rent for September and thus keep my apartment. I’m forever grateful to you both.
Have a wonderful day Constance. I will speak with you this week.
God bless you always,
James
A note from a California resident:
Good evening Ms. Burns, and thank you for your email.
I just wanted to check in with you and let you know my father and I have been working on his paperwork and getting our letter together.
He just read me his rough draft on the phone and I read mine. Not a dry eye between the two of us from California to Colorado.
Thank you so much for your assistance and the generous time you provided to me and my father over the phone.
We look forward to being in contact with you soon. Kind regards, California Resident
September: NAAV Provides Resources
NAAV provided emergency assistance for the following:
For Alva M. Bryan, widow of a deceased World War II Veteran, assistance with VA survivors benefits, East Orange, NJ; NAAV contacted the Acorn Stair Lifts last month in support of a donated stair lift for Mrs. Bryan.
Everything that is done and supported through NAAV makes a difference—big or small:
Hi Ms. Burns
Hoping my appeals for disability will be approved quickly. It will certainly help my finances greatly, I’m struggling for now, looking forward to success in this Appeals Process, Peter Meadows the Attorney will be of great help as well as Ms. Constance Burns one great and wonderful person, God Bless You. Bob Neville
October: TBD
Thank you all for being there and experiencing this journey with us. We warmly anticipate taking many more footsteps together with you.
Kindest regards,
Constance C. Burns
CEO & President
NAAV, Inc.
Washington, DC