Freddie De Los Santos joined the Army after 9/11 and became a special operations staff sergeant deployed from Fort Bragg Army installation in North Carolina. He lost his leg serving in Afghanistan after a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) hit his patrol. Following his injury, he endured months of physical rehabilitation and had to cope with psychological trauma including suicidal thoughts.

The Veterans Administration hospitals and clinics report in 2013 that servicemen-and-women injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached the million mark. More than 1,600 have lost limbs. Like De Los Santos, countless still manage to realize tremendous physical achievements in spite of physical disabilities.

New Beginnings Incorporation: New Beginnings Transitional Services is a U.S. based nonprofit organization that organized in 2009 with a mission to reduce homelessness among the military veteran community. The goal of the project is to place at least 100 military veteran families into permanent housing over a 5–year period. Thus, the housing project will help reduce homelessness in Los Angeles County, California and in Clark County (Las Vegas) Nevada, but more important support disabled veterans.

The Homes for Disabled and Homeless Military Veteran project is a long-term housing mission designed to transition military veteran families from emergency shelter and temporary transitional housing into affordable-permanent housing. The first housing project is anticipated to accommodate from 20 to 30 disabled and displaced veteran families.

There are mitigating factors that affect the livable income and access to basic living resources for military veterans. Some veterans live with lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse, but also have service-connected disabilities. This problem is compounded by a lack of family and social support networks. Additionally, military service occupations and training are not always transferable to the civilian workforce placing some veterans at a disadvantage when competing for employment and the means to access daily living necessities.

The Raffle rules and details can be found on the raffle webpage located at:

http://newbeginningsincorporation.org/winter-charity-raffle/

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