Our founder, Russell Scot Rhoda, a disabled Veteran, has faced many of the same struggles as other Veterans in need. His time in service has left him with lung and breathing issues, as well as PTSD. He has always felt fortunate to have the support of his family and realizes that not every Veteran is that lucky. Rhoda used his health struggles as the catalyst to start Veteran Housing Solutions (VHS), formerly known as Ride with Valor. It gave him a meaningful purpose to keep going when his problems were at their worst.

When VHS received its first transitional home, the costs involved in completely remodelling the home were more than local donations could cover. This remodel was urgently completed to house a female Veteran and her two daughters who were homeless and living in an abandoned house. Rhoda used his savings to complete that and many other projects. At Rhoda’s request, VHS received funds from the Rhoda Family that were earmarked as his inheritance. These funds were used to offset the cost of many other projects, one of which was converting unused land into mini-orchards to provide fresh fruit to our Veterans in need. Later, Rhoda refinanced his home to loan VHS the funds to help buy a multi-family house to house homeless Veteran families.

For the first time, Rhoda is personally requesting assistance. The Federal Department of Housing & Urban Development has a HUD VHRMP program to assist Veterans with housing modifications. It is a matching grant program. Rhoda meets every HUD requirement and wishes to forgive the loan he provided to purchase the multifamily home (which is currently housing two homeless Veteran families) and use the money and grant to make needed weatherization and ADA modifications to his own home. These modifications will not only benefit him but also make it easier for him to continue to work from home, helping other Veterans with their housing needs.