With over 40,000 chronically homeless veterans, our mission is to house as many of our Veterans experiencing homelessness as we can, as fast as we can. This year, the VA is committed to placing at least 40,000 Veterans experiencing homelessness into permanent housing during calendar year 2024.

Of the 40,000 Veterans the VA is committed to housing this year, your love and support for Veterans Matter has housed:

Vets Housed this Year

Want to know how many homeless veterans are in your area? Click here!

Veterans Housed

See Your Donation Work Daily

As of today:

Veterans Housed

Veterans + Family

Veterans’ Children

How It Works

Veterans Matter works directly with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and local VA homeless programs to provide rental deposits and first month’s rent for chronically unhoused Veterans.

Veterans Matter takes requests from VA social workers whose Veteran clients are are sitting with a newly signed lease, but lack the funds for a security deposit and first month’s rent. Once the request is approved the Veteran gets the keys. Rather than be sent back to the streets, shelter, or car, they cross the threshold into a home of their own.

Want to learn more about our Veteran housing program? Click here!

“This is going to be over. After years of feeling helpless, I’ll finally have a place to live.”

Read more from the Heroes you’ve housed

“This is going to be over. After years of feeling helpless, I’ll finally have a place to live.”

Read more from the Heroes you’ve housed

Veterans Housed by State

Statewide Needs Analysis

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Operation Colorado launched in 2015 when the First Nation Group, a full-line national distributor of medical equipment and supplies to federal government agencies, donated a major gift in March 2015. While headquartered in Ann Arbor, one of the company’s main distribution facilities is located in Denver, CO, and the company wished to make a difference by housing veterans there. We housed our first veteran in Colorado the week before Independence Day 2015 – what a way to honor a veteran’s service and the nation!

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Colorado include the following community partners:

First Nation Group, Employees of First Nation Group, Union Colony Exchange Club

and compassionate Americans like you.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our Colorado Veterans are counting on us.

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Founding Funders:

History

Operation New England was started when John McGah with Give US Your Poor learned of VM through Dr. Josh Baumberger with the US Interagency Council on Homelessness. John connected VM to the New England fundraiser staged by the Adam Ezra Group. It raised $15,000. New England takes care of its own.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Colorado include the following community partners:

Adam Ezra Group, Voices for Veterans, New England Center for Homeless Veterans

and compassionate Americans like you.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our New England Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funders:

History

Operation Ohio is where it all started. Operation Hometown is based out of Toledo, Ohio, serving veterans in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, and continues to serve as our test lab to identify needs and then design and pilot programs to fill those needs. When the VA’s Shawn Dowling told Veterans Matter founder, Ken Leslie, that a deposit was all that was preventing two local chronically homeless veteran friends of his from being housed, with 33 more vouchers in the pipeline, he soon realized there was a simple solution. Simply, Ken needed to find money and pay the deposit to the landlord, pushing them over the threshold into ready, permanent housing. What was insurmountable to them, is easily solved by others who care as much as we do. The next morning, Ken called Barb Petee, an executive at ProMedica Health System, to get the $26,250 pilot funding from the Toledo Community Foundation’s ProMedica Advocacy Fund. With veterans waiting, he also asked her to waive the normal three-month foundation due diligence process. Seven days later, on Valentine’s Day at 5:36 pm, Barb called with full funding. Our first veteran family was housed out of the family shelter three days later. Eleven days from idea to implementation. The rest of Ohio was funded by the Exchange Clubs of Northwest Ohio and along the I-75 corridor. Start-up funds for Cleveland and Columbus were provided by the UT Songfest, Class of 2018.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Ohio include the following community partners:

ProMedica/Toledo Community Foundation, Lucas County Veterans Services Commission, Credit Adjustments, Inc., Denny Schaffer Disco Party, University of Toledo Songfest 2018, Exchange Clubs of Ohio

and compassionate Americans just like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our Ohio Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funders & Contributors

Left to Right: Gary Fruchtman, Jeri Gates, Ken Leslie, Kirk Wilkington,

Chuck Hill, Dusty Hill, Buddy Johnson, Sheri Henderson, Dave Henderson, & Kevin Maley

History

Operation Houston began when Dusty Hill of ZZ Top and his wife "Chuck", asked founder Ken Leslie to expand the program to help Houston's veterans. A group was convened and nearly 1000 Texas veterans have now been housed. ZZ Top Facebook Page: Dusty and “Chuck” Hill’s Commitment to our Homeless Veterans

Funding for Operation Texas is provided by the following community partners:

Dusty Hill of "ZZ Top," K Supply, Infinity 3D, Pyramid Tubular Products, L.P., & Houston Area National Exchange Club

and compassionate Americans just like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Texas Veterans there are counting on us.

Founding Funders:

History

Thanks to Mitch Albom, Katy Perry, Kid Rock and Ann Arbor-based company First Nation Group, and many of the state's Exchange Clubs, homeless Michigan veterans and veteran families have been housed. In the spring of 2014, best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster Mitch Albom gave Veterans Matter $15,000 to jump-start a Michigan chapter. “Our veterans, those men and women who have sacrificed so much to ensure our freedom, deserve better than a home on the streets. I’m happy to lend my name to an organization that is fighting to change this, and I’m honored to support them in whatever way possible,” Albom said. How it got funded is an amazing story. Ken received a call on a Monday from the Detroit VA saying they urgently needed our help. By Wednesday, after a coincidental call out of the blue on a totally unrelated topic from Dr. Chad Audi, Mitch’s partner in compassion, funding was secured to house 16 homeless Detroit veterans. Kid Rock, Katy Perry, and First Nation Group helped provide continuation funding. As the honorary chairman of the Michigan chapter of Veterans Matter, Albom will be expanding the reach of the innovative organization that is focused on providing housing to as many Michigan veterans as possible, as quickly as possible.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Michigan include the following community partners:

Mitch Albom, Kid Rock, Katy Perry, First Nation Group, Michigan Exchange Clubs

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Michigan Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funders:

History

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Colorado include the following community partners:

Adam Ezra Group, Voices for Veterans, New England Center for Homeless Veterans

and compassionate Americans like you.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our New England Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funders:

History

Operation Florida launched in January of 2018 after First Nation Group learned of the significant need veterans had in this state.Due to an innovative concept in corporate philanthropy created by company president Steve Baugh, First Nation's supplier, Fisher Paykel, provided the funds to begin housing veterans in Florida.

When company CEO Cheryl Nillson learned of the ancillary needs veterans had once housed in her hometown area of Fort Walton Beach, she worked with Veterans Matter to develop a pilot program called the First Nation Guardian Angel Fund to meet those needs. The Guardian Angel Fund is being tested in three of our areas of operation.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Flordia include the following community partners:

First Nation Group, Fisher Paykel & the Florida Exchange Clubs

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Florida Veterans there counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funders:

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Idaho include the following community partners:

Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund, Harry M. Morrison Foundation

and compassionate Americans like you.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our Idaho Veterans are counting on us.

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Founding Funder:

History

In January 2019 the FCA Foundation granted $30,000 to start up Operation Illinois in the Rockford area. Funds to expand the operation are currently being sought.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Illinois Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funder:

History

Anchored by John Mellencamp’s support of Veterans Matter, we received an anonymous $37,500 donations the same day John signed on as Chair of Operation Indiana. The first veteran to benefit, along with his wife and their three children, went from living in their car to the warmth of a home on February 7, 2014. John has continued his support of Veterans Matter, even returning to Toledo in 2017 to help kick off the Veterans Matter Walk to House More Heroes. Inspired by Mr. Mellencamp, Jeff Young, District Director of the Indiana Exchange Clubs, rallied the state's clubs to unite for 11/11 @ 7 rallies across the state to help provide continuation funding.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Florida include the following community partners:

John Mellencamp and the Indiana Exchange Clubs

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Indiana Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funders:

History

The Mid-Atlantic chapter was the brainstorm of Scott Vaughn and VM founder Ken Leslie. Scott met Ken back-stage in connection with the Katy Perry/Veterans Matter charity auction, which housed 22 veterans in Texas and Ohio and created Operation Mid-Atlantic. Scott and Ken finalized the creation of the chapter when Ken was in DC speaking as Keynote speaker for a national organization. Through the conference, several attendees including Chris King, Cameron Kauffman, Shekinah ‘Ki’ Magee, Jane Perez, and Kevin Day all teamed up to form the core of the Mid-Atlantic Operation focused on DC, Virginia and Maryland.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Veterans there are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Operation Mississippi was launched when First Nation Group, a national distributor of medical equipment and supplies, responded to an urgent need and donated a major gift in August 2015 to house 25 local Mississippi veterans. Pitch in now to support the housing of our heroes in Jackson, Gulfport and throughout Mississippi. We must take care of our own!

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Mississippi include the following community partners:

First Nation Group & Exchange Club of Kosciusko

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Mississippi Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funder:

History

At Veterans United Foundation, located in Columbia Missouri, their mission is “Inspired, created and fully funded by Veterans United Home Loans employees, Veterans United Foundation exists to enhance lives. Fueled by passion, generosity and an unwavering commitment to give, the Foundation is dedicated to making a meaningful difference in the lives of veterans and service members, for employees and their families, and in local communities served by Veterans United.”

On February 11, 2019, with the assistance of Veterans United Foundation Outreach Coordinator Marcus Jones, they followed through with that mindset and awarded us a $10,000 grant to be utilized for our Operation Missouri. This grant will enable us to make a difference for approximately 12 homeless veterans in and around the Columbia Missouri area. On April 16 we housed our first veteran of many in Columbia!

We greatly appreciate the help that Marcus gave us in advocating our Program to his Board.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Missouri include the following community partners:

Veterans United Foundation

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Missouri Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funder:

History

The Breakfast Exchange Club of Billings, Montana had a brilliant idea to start housing homeless veterans: food and drinks. After hosting their first Food Truck Battle on the Yellowstone, the organization raised thousands of dollars, enough to house four veteran heroes in the state and to kick start operation in Montana.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Montana include the following community partners:

the Breakfast Exchange Club of Billings

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Montana Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Veterans Matter and Exchange Clubs nationwide have come together to house homeless veterans. This partnership has produced Operation North Carolina. Thanks to donations via the Exchanges Clubs of Swift Creek and Asheville, NC, homeless veterans in the state are now on our radar and we will get as many housed as we can! You can help, too!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! North Carolina Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, Operation Oregon began at the tail end of 2016. Veterans Matter quickly put the $25,500 donation to work, and in the first week of operations helped house 3 veterans. If you too would like help give homeless veterans in Oregon a home, you can join Operation Oregon right now.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Oregon include the following community partners:

Anonymous Donor & the Oregon Exchange Clubs

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Oregon Veterans are counting on us.

Founding Funder:

History

Operation Pennsylvania launched in 2019 after the Hanover Exchange Club hosted their 11/11@7 event for Veterans Day. This event raised over $18,000 for our homeless heroes -- enough to immediately start housing at least 24 veterans and their families.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Pennsylvania include the following community partners:

Hanover Exchange Club

and compassionate Americans like you.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now!

Our Pennsylvania Veterans are counting on us.

/p>

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Operation South Carolina was officially kicked off by the Daniel Island Exchange Club with their heroic donation of $15,000 which will ensure at least 15 Sourth Carolina Veterans and their families won't be turned away at the door.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation South Carolina include the following community partners:

Daniel Island Exchange Club

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Our Sourth Carolina Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funder:

History

Kix Brooks helps house homeless veterans in Tennessee! Saddened by the fact that over 37,000 veteran men, women, and their families are living on the streets of our nation, Kix Brooks has teamed up with Veterans Matter to help do something about it, forming Operation Tennessee. In cooperation with the VA and HUD, Veterans Matter funds deposits and moves vets into housing as fast as possible. Friends and fellow artists: please join this mission. We must take care of our own! To reach out to us with comments and ideas, click here.

Major Funding Advocates for Operation Tennessee include the following community partners:

Kix Brooks & the Tennessee Exchange Clubs

and compassionate Americans like you!

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Tennessee Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funders:

History

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Veterans there are counting on us.

Founding Funder:

History

Operation Washington was started by a Veterans Matter volunteer Jean Mollman, founder of Hero Giardiniera to help make a difference in Washington state. With roots in the music industry, she enlisted country music icon Kix Brooks to help raise awareness for our cause and connected us with Cumulus Media and grants from Charity USA, now invaluable supporters.

Hearts of gratitude go out to our Washington Operations founding team members Phillip Runyan, Jean Mollmann, Evelyn Jensen and Sandy Dodge.

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Washington Veterans are counting on us.

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Want to be a HERO and get operations started in your state? Our veterans are counting on YOU! Contact ken@veteransmatter.org

Founding Funders:

History

Whether 1 time or monthly, You can Donate Right Here, Right Now! Veterans there are counting on us.

Every single dollar we deploy results in another veteran housed in LONG-TERM VA-supported permanent housing that has a 91% success rate keeping them housed!

Celebrity Advocates

These are just some of the artists who have stepped up to help us raise money and awareness to house the nation’s abandoned veterans.

Celebrity Advocates

These are just some of the artists who have stepped up to help us raise money and awareness to house the nation’s abandoned veterans.

Our national radio campaigns are produced and directed by Mike McVay with McVay Media Consulting and the Benztown Audio Imaging and Production Team!

Country Artists

Brantley Gilbert
Kane Brown
Big & Rich
Justin Moore
Lee Brice
Carly Pearce
Craig Morgan
Mitchell Tenpenny
Darius Rucker

Other Artists

John Mellencamp
Dusty Hill
Katy Perry
Kid Rock
George Thorogood
Mitch Albom
Gary Sinise
Heart
Stevie Nicks

Major Funding Advocates

25% of those we house are the children of our Veterans.

Click here to house a Veteran family today!