Homelessness is an issue that plagues the whole community, but it especially hurt my heart when homelessness affects our veterans who gave their all for our country.

Often, veterans go unnoticed and ignored by society. But one veteran’s Jeep caught the attention of a shopper in Altoona, Iowa.

Jake Holloway noticed something unusual in a parking lot and now a person in need is receiving an outpouring of generosity.

Holloway wrote about his experience for all to see on Facebook: “I see a lot of people out there posting about wanting to help people for the holidays. Here’s my request. I don’t know this guy from Adam, and I don’t know his whole story. There’s been a silver Jeep Wrangler in the Walmart and Target parking lot In Altoona for the last few weeks. It moves from time to time back and forth.”

After working up the nerve to dig deeper, Holloway found out the Jeep’s owner, Nick is a military veteran who has fallen on hard times. According to Jake, after returning from service overseas, Nick’s wife left him, he lost his house, and until recently was unemployed.

Nick explained his heartbreaking story to Holloway and said that he had been sleeping in his Jeep for some time. Apparently, he was recently hired by the DOT, but he still hadn’t received a paycheck yet, so Holloway decided he was going to do something to help.

“If you see him. Out of the kindness of your heart. Do something nice for him or his best friend (the boxer dog),” Holloway said in his post. “Few bucks. A gift. Some dog food…that’s my request…Makes me sick to see a soldier on the street.”

It makes us sick too, and apparently, it does the people in Altoona. According to WHO-TV, after Holloway’s post went viral, people showed an outpouring of support for Nick and his dog, and dozens of people stopped by the Walmart to drop off everything from gift cards to money, and some people even brought Nick food for his loyal friend.

One extraordinarily kind person even went down to Walmart and paid in full for Nick and his dog to stay at a hotel for a week.

The outpouring of support for Nick, who spent 17 years in the military and did four tours overseas, has been tremendous. People seemed beyond eager to help a war veteran, and he apparently received almost everything he needed to get by until he gets paid from his new job.

Kudos to Holloway for going out of his way and making a Christmas miracle happen for a veteran down on their luck. He could have easily gone on about his life and never done a thing, but instead, his generous nature ensured that Nick has a warm place to rest, and his best friend is taken care of.

Sources: OpposingViews, Who TV