How We Help
Why We Exist
BASIC NEEDS
CEMSF provides emergency financial support for veterans in need, including food and auto repairs. CEMSF participates in quarterly food drives for Barrow County Veterans Center and assists with providing Holiday meals for needy veterans. We help provide the essentials like winter coats and also provide Christmas presents for veteran families.
We ensure that veterans are buried with dignity by paying burial expenses when needed. CEMSF has provided financial support for the burial services of five veterans.
In 2023, CEMSF supported six veterans in establishing a new trade of bee keeping, including training and a beehive with all the necessary tools to start a bee colony through a grant to Doc’s Healing Hives. CEMSF made an additional grant in 2024 to Doc’s Healing Hives to allow this special organization to continue to reach veterans practical beekeeping skills while also providing a sanctuary when they can heal.
Testimonials
“I cannot thank you and the Military Support Foundation for rescuing me. I was in a hard place. I have all these appointments in Decatur that the VA set up for me and no way to get there. I was so discouraged, but I remember reading about a group of residents in Chateau Elan who helped Veterans and active-duty military. I called my VA 800 number and they gave me a number to call. The rest is history. I just moved into my low-income senior apartment, and things are tight. I am so glad that I am forever grateful for your help. The VA lets some of us fall through the cracks. God put it in your hearts to help! God bless! Don’t stop doing what you do. You all have no idea what you have done for me. Just the fact that your hearts were willing to help someone (me) who needed help. I thank God for your group. If I can help in any way, don’t hesitate to ask. If I can, I will!”
-Deborah Pugh
HOUSING ASSISTANCE
CEMSF provides emergency housing support for veterans in crisis. We also assist in the repair and remodeling of homes for disabled veterans and other veterans in need. Since 2019, CEMSF has helped veteran families with housing repairs, bathroom remodeling, and handicap ramps to accommodate disabilities. CEMSF has also assisted with temporary housing for homeless veteran families. CEMSF has worked in other ways to ensure that veterans have safe, adequate housing, such as providing labor and financial support to build a new home for a veteran single mom and her daughter through Habitat for Humanity.
MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT
CEMSF helps veterans access the mental health support they need. CEMSF purchased an automobile for the PTSD Foundation to use to transport veterans to and from appointments. CEMSF also made a $10,000 donation to the PTSD Foundation to support the Camp Hope program for combat veterans. CEMSF has provided food donations for weekly group meetings.
CEMSF is partnering with The Headstrong Project to help provide free mental health sessions to service members, veterans and family members. CEMSF has committed $50,000 over three years to help pay for mental health sessions of eligible individuals in our local community (Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson Counties). Since our relationship with The Headstrong Project began in Fall 2024, 5 North Georgia veterans have received mental health services through The Headstrong Project and funded by CEMSF.
HONORING VETERANS
While our primary focus is helping veterans in need, we also participate in projects that honor veterans. In 2024, CEMSF sponsored wreaths through Wreaths Across America to honor the legacy of 25 American heroes. These wreaths will be placed in a local cemetery.
Our Partners
CEMSF increases its impact in the North Georgia veteran community by partnering with other local and national organizations that serve veterans in our area. Some of our partner organizations include
