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While many may stop and say “thank you” or shake a veteran’s hand, Father Chris Laine has decided to go one step further and try to give some local veterans a new place to call home.
Laine’s Emmaus Community Ministry is in the process of raising funds to purchase a 15-bedroom property for homeless veterans.
In order to buy the property at 1301 Third St. S.E., the ministry will need to come up with $15,000 by Sept. 1. To do this, Laine said he is collecting donations from patrons at local Wal-mart stores.
“Our goal is to be their family and to care for them as if they were our family. And they will indeed be it,” Laine said.
Laine said he was emotionally moved by his first fundraiser at Wal-mart. Held in August, children were digging change out of their parents’ cars and piggy banks so that they could contribute, he said. When people learned the charity would support veterans, their hearts opened, Laine said.
He said one particular donation that day especially moved him. A homeless veteran approached him and gave to the charity, after thanking Laine for his work. He then went into the Wal-mart and bought Laine a water bottle on that very hot afternoon.
Laine said $450 was raised at the first Wal-mart fundraiser.
“If we had stayed longer, who knows what we could have raised. People are so generous it blows me away,” he said.
This nonprofit charity, established under the Order of St. Patrick, has only one purpose: to care for veterans who do not have homes or kin and who do not have recognition for their service.
“We do not preach or teach. It’s more like Mother Theresa. We’re here as care-givers and nothing else,” Laine said.
Bruce Crane, who runs a public relations firm for Catholic organizations, has been in contact with Laine since the beginning of this charity event.
“The need to get these veterans off of the streets is urgent. Last week, nine veterans were buried in Santa Fe and nobody was there to mourn their death,” Crane said. “This mission is to make sure that we don’t have any more of our veterans dying alone.”
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Of the 1,000 homeless veterans in Albuquerque, more than 300 are women with children, Laine said.
While not every homeless veteran can be taken in, the work that Laine is doing will have lasting effects, Crane said.
“These men and women have put their lives on the line for their country, and they are essentially left to their own. That’s really no way to treat our heroes,” Crane said.
The ministry’s efforts are not going unnoticed. Laine said people around the city are beginning to express interest in the charity.
Local business Star Paving has taken an interest in Laine’s cause. David Martinez, the company’s marketing professional, said he became involved because he is a veteran.
“I personally have experienced what some of those other veterans have gone through,” Martinez said.
To help Laine start, Star Paving donated $250 toward the building purchase. In addition to the donation, Martinez will be publicizing the charity to all of Star Paving’s customers, he said.
