Eli’s Story

Eli Downey enlisted in the US Army immediately after graduating high school at Mariner his first deployment was New Orleans during hurricane Katrina fresh out of boot camp then he went on to Ranger School, 82nd Airborne and was deployed to Iraq, and various other missions in his 13 year military career ending as a recruiter for a short time before medical retirement.

Eli continues to have a very rough time adjusting to civilian life, he has Combat PTSD, a spinal cord injury from to many jumps in the 82nd, several back surgeries and was welcomed into the wounded warrior foundation in June of 2018. Eli is 33 years old with the medical history equivalent of a 70 year old man. As if the challenges of being a combat veteran was not enough he quickly became a single father after his wife passed away unexpectedly in 2017, leaving him with a 2 and 3 year old toddler boys further magnifying the depression and adjustment to life outside of being a soldier. We have purchased a home for Eli with property for him to do light farming and gardening as this has shown proven success for veterans with PTSD which is helping greatly. He also invites other wounded warriors into our house monthly where they discuss their struggles and offer support to one another.

We decided to purchase an old home which had land so he would have something to occupy his mind but the home purchased is very old and needs roof work and additional construction. Thank you for considering our application for roof assistance, we are in contact with my Combat 911 veterans in our area if you would like additional applications we can assist in finding other families in need or hook you up with the wounded warrior rep in our area.

SFR Services was very happy to work with Eli and provide him and his family with a new roof for their home. Thank you for your service and sacrifice!