Back to In The News

Gables businesswoman makes plea for veterans

The Miami Herald
BY LETTIE J. BIEN, retired U.S. Army Reserves colonel
03.09.08

Editor's note: Last week, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a $1 million contribution to the local effort to establish guest quarters on the grounds of the Veterans Affairs Hospital. The essay below was written as part of the effort to raise a total of $2 million in Miami-Dade public and private donations.

For nearly a year in Iraq, I wore body armor from head to toe. I carried no fewer than two weapons -- and lots of ammunition. As a Reserves colonel mobilized for the U.S. Army, it was my job soon after liberation to work with the Iraqis at hundreds of factories through the Ministry of Industry -- for better or worse. It was dangerous territory. Military intelligence told me, at one point, that I was named as a target of the insurgents.

But I was lucky. I came home without injury, retired from a 30-year Army career and have seen -- up close and personal -- that many U.S. forces have not been so fortunate.

I have seen the devastation of war and injury, what it does to soldiers who come home. And what it does to the families that try to comfort them. Right here, in our community.

And that is why I have embarked on a campaign to help alleviate some of the hardships for families struggling with patient-care issues here in South Florida -- where our neighbors, our friends, our families include injured and battered war veterans of the Army Reserves and Florida National Guard. Veterans who, like me, responded to the call of their country -- but came home not so lucky.

That campaign is for Fisher House -- a plan to build a 21-suite, motel-style lodging, a home away from home in downtown Miami -- on the grounds of our top-rated Veterans Affairs hospital. Total tab? About $8 million. Our share? A fraction: $2 million. The national organization that sponsors these family havens around military and veterans hospitals will put up the rest -- if the people of South Florida donate the first $2 million.

On paper, the Fisher House Foundation (FHF) is a nonprofit, tax-deductible charity, meaning a donation gets you a tax deduction. For me, it's our social responsibility. This war came upon us suddenly -- and frankly, it cost many of us as individuals very little, no war taxes, no rationing, no mandatory anything. We still live in a nation of people who volunteered for service and, here I am, vouching for a national charity.

Families of wounded and recovering U.S. forces receiving care at the adjacent Veterans Affairs hospital get to stay there -- free of charge -- and spend as much time as they can with their wounded warriors. During rehabilitation, hopefully, they can all spend time there together, cooking, sharing and hanging out -- just like a family should.

HOME BENEFITS MANY

Not only does it save families on hotel costs in their times of need, but it is key to helping our veterans in need get reacquainted with civilian society.

Aside from helping unite veterans with loved ones, the most important aspect, to me, is the support, information and encouragement that families get from others in similar circumstances. Remember, sometimes these are young spouses of injured soldiers or members of other U.S. forces -- Marines, airmen, sailors.

They can learn together how to navigate the complex military and veterans systems -- the bureaucracies and hurdles for all kinds of things, like getting timely prescriptions and disability checks, collaborating on rehab or finding the right prosthetic maker.

SOUNDEST INVESTMENT

As an institution, Fisher House Foundation is exceptionally financially sound. It is efficient and competently run, has a proven track record of delivering on its mission, and it fills a significant shortcoming in the medical and rehabilitative services we provide to our community's wounded veterans.

Under its proposal to establish a Fisher House in Miami, the foundation is asking us to raise the first $2 million to demonstrate our commitment to this public-private partnership. It then provides the additional $4 million to $6 million for design, construction, furnishings and the operating expenses that come with establishing it.

The way I see it, they are asking for $2 million from a community of over 2 million citizens to show our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that we support them all the way -- no matter what happens -- when they serve our nation.

To me, they're American patriots. But so are we if we take care of them.

Col. Lettie Bien, U.S. Army Reserves, retired, is an attorney and former head of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. She was a civil affairs officer in Iraq from December 2003 to November 2004. She retired in January 2004 after 30 years in the Army Reserves. She is currently director of marketing and business development at Investors Solutions Inc., a Coconut Grove financial-planning firm.

Back to In The News