Serving Veterans: A Serve Day Home Makeover Project

Memorial Day is a time to honor those who gave everything for our freedom. As we remember those who have paid the ultimate price this weekend, we also take a moment to honor those veterans who have given so much to serve our country.

 A few weeks ago, more than 2,300 volunteers in red shirts headed out into our community to serve in over 100  projects for Milestone’s annual Serve Day. One of our teams had the opportunity to work with a veteran’s family to completely transform their home. Take a look as two of the project leaders describe their experience:

Brian’s Story:

“This family responded that their big need was for the leak in the master bedroom which caused the floor to be all rotted out. They asked for a quote and it was going to be thousands of dollars. I saw that it would be pretty simple, so I asked his wife what else they needed. Not like, “this leak needs to be fixed,” but like “what are your dreams? Pull out your HGTV dream home magazine!” It was just a great opportunity to get to know their family and get to help.

Their kitchen sink had been leaking and caused the hardwood to buckle under it, their air conditioner had a leak and it had caused the sheet rock to mold, their carpet was a mess, rooms needed to be repainted, and a storm door wouldn’t close all the way.

I reached out to Peter Paulsen and asked him to give me an idea of what to do. He just took the project and ran with it. Without Peter, and the skillset and connections he has, this project couldn’t have happened. It’s just a cool picture to see how God places us in areas to use us at the exact right time. The impact that he made on this project was really pretty phenomenal.

 If you allow God to use you where you are, it’s incredible the impact you can have.

As a veteran myself, we are engrained to serve. I knew, walking into the project, that having been a veteran myself, I might be able to provide some common ground to walk on. I really didn’t give them the option of having more done to their home, I really gave them more of an ultimatum. I’m not asking, I’m telling you that I’m going to help you. Now, what do you need? It really, really helped that I could already talk the language that would speak to them.

Another cool story: as I was leaving the Serve Day rally to go to the house, someone I don’t know asked me what their dream TV was. I asked the wife of the family we were helping and she started crying. The TV they had was broken. This man bought them a brand new 75 inch Smart TV.”

–Brian

Peter’s Story:

“I’ve always taken what God has blessed us with and tried to help Him do other things with it. So, when I heard about Serve Day, I thought it was awesome. Being in the home building business, I’ve got a bunch of subcontractors who have been with us for years and a lot of them are Christian. I heard about the shower and floor that needed fixing in the home. When I went to see it, I knew it was a pretty simple, but I realized there were many things that needed to be fixed around the house.

 I thought to myself that we could make this into a real home-makeover project.

We re-painted, changed out counter-tops, replaced carpet and flooring, and more. Most everything was donated. The subcontractors raised money for the items they couldn’t get donated. We didn’t have to come up with anything.

We just really enjoy doing this. I really want to do this every year—to fix veterans’ homes. They sacrificed so much for us. They are right here in our backyard. If there’s ever a need, I say, “let’s go!”

These people have done so much to help so many people, they need to be taken care of.

It’s all for the Kingdom. If we can do something for others and to bless others, that’s what it’s all about. That’s what I love about Milestone—it’s so cool to see the church reaching out with its heart to help other people.”

–Peter

Thank you, Milestone, for the way you love and serve others with the unique gifts God’s given you. We are an everyone church. One person can’t do everything, but everyone can do something.

If you’d like more information on ways to serve our veterans, as well as benefits available for our active military and veteran members, visit Milestone Veterans.