Become a founding member of the Veterans' Rent Assistance Fund

From the desk of

Sister Rose Wildenhaus

Dear friend,

The bugle played taps as Dick McBride and I stood praying next to John’s grave. We were the only two people there. No family. No friends except us.

That’s pretty much how it had been for the eight years before John died and was buried at the cemetary on the VA grounds. John had served

as a Navy cook during World War II. But in his later years, he

had no one to help him.

When we first met John, he was 65 and in need of a home -- a decent

place to live. Soon after, we moved John into the first low-income senior apartment building we created.

John loved his apartment. He had a lot of energy and wanted to work but had two bad legs. One day we asked him if he would like to help take care of the property’s lawn using a riding mower. John was thrilled and happily spent many hours keeping the lawn trimmed to perfection. He took great pride in his work.

Over the years Dick regularly had lunch with John. They became friends. When our offices moved, John wanted to be close by. Dick helped John move to a new apartment so he could be near us.

You have a special place in your heart for veterans like John. I do, too. That’s why I want you to be one of the founding members of our Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund. As I continue my story, you’ll see how your kindness will make a huge difference in the lives of a few older, vulnerable veterans.

John had many struggles through the years. He had a stroke. At one point doctors suggested both John’s legs be amputated. Dick was John’s only advocate and helped convince the doctors to save

his legs.

Dick McBride and I founded St. Mary Development Corporation to give poor seniors, like John, a place to live. Over the past 20+ years, St. Mary Development has built seven apartment centers for low-income seniors. We have nearly 600 residents. Our apartments aren’t just for veterans, although we have many veterans who make our apartments their homes. (You can read more about our mission at www.StMaryDevelopment.org.)

But lately, we’ve been seeing more and more veterans apply to live in our senior apartments and haven’t been able to help them. The reason is the veterans are too poor to pay the rents for the affordable apartments. Many vets are living off monthly incomes of only $600. After rent, they have almost nothing left for food, clothing and other necessities.

It breaks my heart when the men and women who defended our country can’t find a decent place to live out their later years. They put their lives on the line and we allow them to live on the street or in substandard housing.

That’s why we’ve created the Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund and want you to be a founding member. The Fund will help vets who apply to live in one of our senior buildings but can’t afford the rent. We’ll evaluate their income, see what they’re able to afford and then use the Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund to make up the difference.

How many veterans will we be able to help? That’s a good question. But the answer really depends on you.

A typical rent for one of our senior apartments is $495 a month. That’s just $17 a day for a home and some support services that can transform a senior vet’s life. Would you sponsor a day, a week or even an entire month?

We have to be sure we can pay their rent for the long term. Our senior apartments barely break even and rental fees are critical to keep them open.

We promise to share the wonderful stories of the vets we’re able to help. And we’ll report back how much we’ve raised. Let me be straightforward -- we don’t expect to help hundreds of veterans. We’d like to start with two or three. But as Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t help a hundred people, help just one.” I think John would agree with that.

Once a vet has moved into one of our buildings, he or she will receive many free and low-cost services. Things like free bus transportation to grocery shopping, meal programs, social activities and wellness programs.But the key is gettng them into one of our apartments -- that’s why the Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund is so critical.

Okay, now back to John.

One day Dick got a phone call from the manager of the apartment where John lived. While John’s health wasn’t good, we we’re still shocked.

The apartment manager told Dick that John had died the night before. There was no one else to call. No children. No relatives. John had died alone, except for Dick who had visited him just the day before. But during John’s prior eight years, we had done everything we could to help him with his housing needs and anything else we were able to do. And John was always so grateful!

You might think the story ends there but it doesn’t. We wanted to

honor John in some way because he had never been honored much while

he was alive. He was a simple man. We wanted to create a symbol -- something big -- to honor John and all the senior veterans who struggle to find a decent home.

So we named one of our senior apartment buildings after John Lyons. Lyons Place opened a little more than a year ago. And all of its 67 residents have a safe, decent place to live.

We think John would get a kick out of having his name on a building. His situation and life inspired us to name the building after him. And now John has inspired us to create the Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund.

We’re a faith-based non-profit. We prayerfully follow God’s lead. We feel called to create this new program to help a few poor veterans move into our senior apartments. But we need you to become a founding member of the Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund to make it happen.

There are many veterans like John out there. We’ve had three come to us in the past month but weren’t able to help them. We want to invite them in with open arms and ask them to stay. You can make that invitation possible by making a one-time or ongoing monthly gift using your credit card. (If you'd prefer, you can mail a check to the address below.)

Either way, you’ll be a founding member of the a program that will change the lives of some deserving men and women. Vets who served our country. Now it’s our turn to serve them.

May God bless you,

Sister Rose

Sister Rose Wildenhaus

Co-founder and Senior Vice-president

St. Mary Development Corporation

713 W. Grand Avenue

Dayton, OH 45406

937-277-8149

rwildenhaus@smdcd.org

Our Web site: www.StMaryDevelopment.org

John would be so proud of the

Veterans’ Rent Assistance Fund!