Charity Helps Veterans Find Purpose Following The Military

Speaker 1: 00:00 It can be difficult for service members to find a new purpose following their careers in the military KPBS, North County reporter, Tonya thorn talked to a local veteran who got help from a charity finding a way to put his talents to work. Mike Andela spent 16 years in the Marine Corps, including tours to the middle East as part of an explosive ordinance disposal unit. He suffered multiple injuries from explosives. Speaker 2: 00:25 I had an IUD behind me go off. It was about a hundred, 110 pounds of explosives. And, uh, it was probably about 10 yards away from that, uh, on foot. And, uh, that hurt really bad as well. Speaker 1: 00:37 But a final concussion in 2016 is what forced Andela to go home. Eventually taking a medical retirement in 2018. Speaker 2: 00:45 I left, uh, Kuwait and Iraq that year pretty angry, uh, pretty, just, just defeated. Uh, it's like, uh, uh, you took away, uh, you know, one of my main purposes for living Speaker 1: 00:59 And Della had to find a new purpose for life, but didn't know where to start, Speaker 2: 01:03 Look at you as, uh, they look at you as like being Superman, what you do, how you do it. And then when you don't have that anymore, it's tough to pull yourself out of that. Speaker 1: 01:15 And Della's injuries gave him intense migraines and disorientation preventing him from dedicating 40 hours a week to an employer. Speaker 2: 01:23 I was just scared of, you know, how am I going to provide for my family? Uh, because, uh, Marine Corps retirement does not, uh, it doesn't pay all the bills. So, uh, it's, uh, it's not like everybody thinks a you're going to get out. You're retired. Uh, and, uh, everything is going to be fine. Speaker 1: 01:42 This situation often faced by retiring service members is what Semper fi in America's fund focuses on. Speaker 3: 01:48 So we see a lot of, a lot of veterans that are searching for something tangible, something that's purpose filled for their life and tools that they can use to help in their work. Speaker 1: 01:57 Casey Fisher manages some of the apprenticeship programs that Centrify in America's fund offers to help service members find a new purpose after service. And it's what helped them. Della find a new purpose after his career in the Marine Corps. Speaker 3: 02:11 He's incredibly gifted if you've seen any of his work, but he was looking for something he could pour that talent into that could make him a little bit of money and give him a purpose to serve the community. Speaker 1: 02:21 That's where the idea for coastal sign company grew. It's not just a sign company. It's also a workshop. And Della operates with his wife out of their garage where customers can come in and make their own rustic crabs. Speaker 2: 02:33 A wife actually came up with the idea for coastal sign company, uh, and it, and it is it being a workshop, not just something that we sell and, uh, where people will come to a workshop and, you know, they start out with a pile of wood, like you see here. And they end up with, uh, you know, their very own, you know, something that they created, something that they personalize made and painted and bring it home. Speaker 1: 02:56 The fund helped them, Della, with all of the details on forming the business, as well as some funding, they will tailor Speaker 3: 03:03 Your business plan around what you want and what you can, uh, what you, what you want to see your business doing Speaker 1: 03:10 Funding for simplifying America's fund comes mainly from one-off donations and some grants. They have helped over 30,000 families nationwide their mission to support the wounded ill or injured veterans and their families and all military branches. Speaker 3: 03:25 We have programs that range from an athletic program where you can play golf or learn how to ride a bike. We have a horse program, uh, where we try and train service members to ride horses and even get to a point where they do cattle drives just one of our greatest programs. And then the program that I'm in, where we will help veterans in navigating what it is they want to do after the middle Speaker 1: 03:45 Sempra fighting America's fund, we'll be having a virtual auction of products from the funds programs. Now through May 3rd, all proceeds will go to benefit programs, helping veterans from the fund, Tonya thorn KPBS news,