Saturday, November 9, 2024 | 13
HONORING VETERANS
Ministry From 12
Brando said, “taking care of their animals is really important.” So, Brando helped look for a good foster home for Ody, reaching out through social media. It didn’t take long for people to of- fer and to find a good temporary home for Ody. “It just so happened that this veteran family that I’ve known for a long time, they are now foster caring for his service dog,’” Brando said. “On his days off, he gets to have the dog, and then when he goes back to work, five days, they take care of the dog during the week.” According to Brando, the veteran was blown away by the support he received and telling him, “I can’t believe this has hap- pened this fast.” Brando feels very blessed to help out vet- erans through BCV, whether it’s their ani- mals or their bills. As a Christian, Brando believes in making the most of his time on Earth and taking care of his fellows in the hopes they can spread kindness to others. “People who know me personally say, ‘I don’t know how you do it, chef, I mean I would have walked away a long time ago,’ but that’s not the answer,” Brando said. “Walking away is not the answer to help- ing a person who’s struggling emotionally, mentally, PTSD-wise, financially.”
According to Brando, the veteran was in contact with a family the outreach had previously helped, and they told him, “Hey, call chef [Brando], I’m sure he’s going to help you.” Brando, himself a Navy veteran and owner of three cats, understands the im- portance of having a loving companion. From Brando’s experience, a lot of vet- erans, whether from PTSD, their upbring- ing, or bad relations, end up having nobody in their life. This loneliness leads to them having a difficult time opening up about their problem. “It’s always easier to close up and just walk away, to try and get through your problems. I know that for a fact, it’s harder to work through a problem for a lot of peo- ple, so they just forget it and just pretend it’s not there and it’s ‘I’ve been this way alone for many years, I’m comfortable,’” Brando said. “But once they get that animal and they start feeling unconditional love from the animal — which really we should, we should unconditionally love each other more as humans, but we don’t — so to get that unconditional love from an animal, it’s
VIA BUSINESS COALITION FOR VETERANS FACEBOOK Anthony Brando, center, holds up a check for $500 he received from Tiffany Square for the Business Coalition of Veterans.
just like a whole new world opened up for a veteran who thought, ‘That’s it, I’m going to be alone, I’m going to die alone.’” Knowing the importance that uncondi- tional love can bring to veterans, Brando
wants to make sure that their animals are cared for. “When a veteran has nobody, and they’re just hunkered down and locked up in their apartment and they’re not going out,”
HonoringAllWhoServed
WE ARE HONORED TO SERVE YOU!! Thank You Veterans…..
T.J. Clinch, MD H Jan Jensen, MD Rachel Moore, CST H Todd VanHorn, CRNA Including Kearney Eye Institute and Grand Island Eye Institute’s Veterans T. J . C linCh , M D R aChel M ooRe , C ST T odd V an H oRn , C RNA
Dr. Craig A. Foss
Dr. AnnaM. Murphy
Dr. Tessa M. DeLaet
Dr. Kimberly J. Andresen
308. 38 2.1781 grandislandeye.com
308.865.2760 kearneyeye.com
2421 W. Faidley Ave. • 308.384.2101 • Grand Island • www.hearingclinicgi.com
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