Homes for Healing is an important program of Military Missions in Action (MMIA), Fuquay-Varina’s acclaimed, mostly volunteer organization. In order to learn and share with our readers how the MMIA volunteers became so dedicated to their work, I teamed up with Mike Arthur and Homes for Healing Manager Zak Keisler for a delivery.
After a career of heavy lifting in a printing factory, MMIA volunteer Mike is still strong, well into his 60s. I asked him about his favorite day at MMIA. After a moment’s thought, he replied, “My favorite day was my first delivery. I knew little about MMIA. I just knew they gave veterans stuff.” His vision withdrew into memory for a moment. “This middle-aged guy was sitting in a cinder-block house in Durham. All he had was a blow-up mattress. When we unloaded the used furniture, he just kept on saying ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ That hits your heart! Working with these people. They’re all good people. Many of them come off the streets.” He summed up his thoughts, “It gave me a new outlook on life. I have a nice house, a nice family, and food on the table. But when you meet these people, it gives you less to complain about.”
Mike has been working with MMIA two or three days per week for two years. I arrived early at the warehouse, so Mike gave me a tour. MMIA is setting up a whole new space complete with new shelving and even an air-conditioned office to escape the warehouse heat on hot days.
Zak’s Story
Zak motored in at the appointed time on his Harley-Davidson Fat Boy with ape-hanger handlebars, sporting a World War II-combat-like helmet and his full beard. It was a grand entrance for such a fuel-efficient vehicle—an entrance that I learned later had much significance for his work. The goal that day was to make a delivery of donated furniture to a man who had risked his life for the rest of us by serving honorably on the front lines in the U.S. Army for four years. I rode the 48 miles to the veteran’s empty house in the van with Zak and back after the delivery in the truck with Mike.
The first stop for our two-vehicle caravan was the old MMIA warehouse. “The vet we’re delivering to has two kids,” Zak explained, “and we’re going to take them a Wii game console that someone donated recently.” On the hour-long trip to the veteran’s new house, Zak told me his story.
“I’ve been the Commander of Chapter 15-6 of the Combat Vets Motorcycle Association.” (CVMA, Raleigh’s arm of a non-profit 501(c)19 7, https://cvma15detachmenta.shutterfly.com/) “We donate to various veterans’ care facilities and veterans’ charities. A year ago, a man’s handicapped son came to stay with him. His son’s seizures made it impossible for him to stay in a place with stairs. The man wouldn’t leave his son, so they slept in his truck.” Zak turned back to his own story. “Our motorcycle group sends our donations out, but I hadn’t had such a one-on-one experience before. That weekend, CVMA put the veteran and his son up in the same hotel that I had stayed at the night I left home to join the army, 20 years earlier. The coincidence seemed a special message to me, because I wasn’t happy in the job where I was. So, I went home and told my wife that I wanted to do something to help vets. She said, ‘Well, find a job.’”
“About a month later MMIA’s part-time position for Homes for Healing Manager came up. I make knives on the side as a hobby and do mobile scissors sharpening for salons. I talked with Mendy and Marilyn in the office [two of the MMIA’s four employees]. Then, I told my wife I could make up the income difference with my knife business. Now, I not only manage the Homes for Healing, but also help with anything MMIA needs—like taking ‘Fill the Footlocker’ pallets to the post office one or two times per month or helping supply the stand-downs. I had never before had a job that I looked forward to every day, like I do at MMIA.”
Case workers from the Veterans Administration or Volunteers in America refer the people we help to us. They provide a copy of the veteran’s DD 214 that shows honorable discharge. To assure access to a home, Zak calls a day or two ahead of time and the morning of the delivery. One of his biggest challenges is getting in touch with the veteran to arrange the delivery. Sometimes he even drives there in advance to make the contact.
Since he is the only Homes for Healing employee, Zak must make sure that he has enough volunteers to do a delivery. Having many friends helps with this, as does MMIA’s insurance for volunteers. Sometimes homeschool kids pack boxes or high school kids wash vehicles. The Travis Manion Foundation has provided volunteers as part of their leadership training and so has the Campbell Youth Theological Institute summer program for 14-18-year-olds.
Zak’s motorcycle group has 180 members, but many work full-time. He needs two or three people to work two to three days per week either in the warehouse or on deliveries. “It’s nice when I have my son and his friend.” He explained and later gave real-life proof. “They’re 17-year-olds and you just say, ‘OK guys, this goes in the house.’ It’s good for them to learn about helping other people. It lets them see past their noses. A lot of kids don’t see how fortunate they are. When a kid, who has been given everything his whole life, goes to a house where people don’t even have a chair to sit in, it builds a sense of community.”
It also builds gratitude. “When we donate this stuff, it’s used, not straight from the store, but the vets are so grateful for it. It’s good for the kids to see that.” Mike added on the way home, “The first delivery I did was to an older guy. You have to have a few years on you before you appreciate the power of gratitude. The kids today too often act like, ‘You owe me this.’ Today, they rely on too many people, especially their parents.” I added a lesson that took me more decades to learn than I want to admit: Gratitude is essential for building community.
The Delivery
We entered a neighborhood not too many miles from where Zak grew up. It had mostly one-story houses with well-kept lawns. We stopped at the veteran’s new house and Zak’s first remark was not how tall the weeds were, but, “We should have brought that push-mower from the warehouse.” He then called the veteran to open the doors. But before he arrived, Zak drove over to a cousin’s house to pick up Ethan, a 15-year-old football player (right guard and tackle) and Caleb, his 12-year-old little brother still anticipating his growth spurt. While we were waiting for the veteran, the property manager stopped by. He said that he had been collecting rent for two months and needed to clean out some of the bushes in the front.
Our first tour of the house found it empty except for a razor and toothbrush in the bathroom. The crew showed the power of many hands (including Caleb’s and Ethan’s) to reduce work. In less time than I had imagined it would take, they unloaded into the house two easy chairs (one a recliner), two end-tables with drawers, two dressers, a microwave, a flat-screen TV still in its box, one new full-size and two twin mattresses with box springs and bed frames, a coffee table, kitchen table with four matching chairs, a floor lamp and a table lamp, bedding (clean and wrapped), pots and pans, two bathroom boxes with a shower mat, curtain, towels, and toothbrush holder, plus the Nintendo Wii.
People call MMIA from across the surrounding area to offer furniture. Zak and his team pick it up and store it in the warehouse until it is needed for a trip like today’s. Corporations also help. Recently, BB&T donated $24,000 worth of new TVs and mattresses. They also sent volunteers who did 20 deliveries.
Coming Home
On my drive home in the truck with Mike, I asked him how he learned about MMIA. “I needed to do something,” he replied. “My wife mentioned MMIA and I tried it out. Now, I usually put in about 30 hours per week. I wasn’t in the service. My Dad was in the Army in World War II and my son was in the Persian Gulf. So, I feel this is a good way for me to do my service.”
Both Mike and Zak mentioned how much they enjoy the people they work with. Mike’s explanation reminded me of Zak’s grand entrance that morning. “Zak knows a lot of people. That helps especially with recruiting volunteers. When I worked in the printing company, I only knew the other employees loosely.” He did not want to exclude another good friend. “Dan also is a big asset to the company. He just turned 70 and does a lot of repair work for us. He has problems with his hips, so had to get away from deliveries.” Our conversation showed how experiencing gratitude opens people to volunteering and experiencing camaraderie sustains it. The same could be said for our sense of community.
We passed several large self-storage facilities on the way home. They made us think, “Save money on storage. Donate the stored stuff to Homes for Healing and get a tax write-off to boot.” Better yet, if you have spare time on your hands, donate that to MMIA as well. You’ll be rewarded with good companions, a sense of community, and a feeling of time well spent. Every hour there helps us to remember that “America is the home of the free because of the brave.”
