Appraisers saving our veterans in need

Here's a memo from our Chairman, Dave Biggers. Thanks in advance for your help.

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A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by one of our appraisal customers, Carol Huffman, asking if we could help a group of current and former Marines who were on a grassroots mission to save fellow veterans at risk of suicide.

Carol's daughter is one of those former Marines and founders of the group, and also happens to be a staff appraiser with her. I know many of you appraisers have military backgrounds as well, and the story I'm about to tell will hit home. As an Army brat myself, the son of an appraiser and Vietnam veteran, I was committed the moment I heard it. And I knew right then that we couldn't just stop at building a website for them (Carol's original request). We needed to get them across the goal line completely. That's why I'm writing to you today.

We're determined to raise at least $500,000 for them as quickly as possible, starting now on Veterans Day. I'm personally contributing $250,000 of that on a dollar-for-dollar match — doubling whatever you give — so give as much as possible. Please visit www.alamode.com/veterans to help us get there.

You don't have to be an a la mode customer. You just have to care about the veterans that we depend on every day to keep us safe. They've done their job. Now it's time to do ours.

But first, let me tell you the story. It starts with a number much smaller than 500,000.
It starts with 22.

Twenty-two. 22. Remember that number as you keep reading. Because that's how many veterans commit suicide every single day. That's 22 too many. That's one every hour. It's a huge and unacceptable number — in fact, last year alone, veteran suicide claimed more American lives than the 14 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

So, sixty minutes after you read this email, another will be gone — that is, unless we all do something about it.

That's what Carol's daughter and fellow appraiser, Jessica, and a small group of other Marines did. After a veteran friend took his life, they simply decided to get up and act. They decided it wasn't someone else's job. As Carol put it so well on our initial phone call, "It started with five Marines trying to save one's life and quickly grew into 3000 on Facebook offering to drive anywhere, any time, to save the next one."

Now that group has become "official", as an IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit company, appropriately named "The Chesty Puller House". If you're not militarily inclined, you might wonder what the name means. It's significant, and it's tied directly into the reason for raising $500,000.

Marine Corps Lieutenant General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller was a legend to all Marines and all veterans in the years before and after WWII. With an incredible five Navy Crosses, along with a Distinguished Service Cross awarded by the Army, Chesty became the only veteran ever to receive so many of our nation's second-highest recognitions of valor, below only the Medal of Honor. And yet bravery couldn't save Chesty's family from suffering exactly what we're fighting here. His son, Lewis, severely wounded in Vietnam, committed suicide in 1994. He became one of the "twenty-two" that we're fighting for today.

But now, in a twist relevant to all real estate appraisers, Chesty Puller's former house in Saluda, VA, could play a crucial role in helping other veterans suffering like Lewis. Chesty and his wife, Virginia, were known for opening the home to Marines of all ranks — seating privates and generals at the same table. Now it's for sale, and the Chesty Puller House charity intends to buy it, renovate it, and use it as an events center, headquarters, national lifeline, and "spiritual beacon" for at-risk veterans of all branches, continuing in Chesty and Virginia's tradition. Proceeds generated through its events operations will continue funding the Chesty Puller House mission: To never leave a brother or sister behind.

Back when the group started, the last line posted by a veteran friend in a suicide note on Facebook, imploring them to save others, was "the door is unlocked". So it's fitting that we should help Chesty Puller House physically unlock the door to veterans in need.

But first, they have to buy it. Anyone else could snap it up. We have to hurry for that reason, as well as for the 22. Every hour counts, so donate now, while you're thinking about it.

That twenty-two can be reduced to zero by the work of one: You. You can tell all your friends about the donations page at www.alamode.com/veterans. You can forward this email to every friend, appraiser, Realtor, broker, underwriter, regulator, inspector, and veteran that you know. You can push me past the $250,000 dollar-for-dollar match limit by showing me that you won't stop at $500,000. I'm counting on you. And the twenty-two are counting on you as well.

We CAN make this happen. We WILL make this happen. At this time of year, when petty politics and holiday consumerism often overshadow the somber remembrance of Veterans Day, we MUST make this happen.

I need to thank Carol and all the folks at Chesty Puller House for bringing this so vividly to my attention. And I want to thank you in advance for anything you do to help. Visit the donations page at www.alamode.com/veterans and let's get going.

Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.