Veteran needs help to get home back [View all]

[James48]

Veteran needs help to get home back
Fundraising effort seeks $132,000 for Hamburg resident




Howell, Michigan: -- A Livingston County Veterans Affairs employee hopes others will step up to help an 82-year-old Hamburg Township veteran on the brink of being homeless.

Joshua Parish, a veterans benefits counselor, launched a crowdfunding campaign June 25 and plans to host fundraisers to try and raise $132,008 for Ross Dahlberg to reclaim his home before a six-month redemption period expires Sept. 26.

Owing about $4,000 in mortgage payments, the Korean War-era veteran lost his home of 17 years at a sheriff’s auction in March while in the hospital recovering from triple-bypass surgery. Parish said he believes Dahlberg was overlooked by a state system when he applied for financial assistance.

“It’s not just this veteran in this county that it’s happening to, it’s everywhere,” Parish said.

Dahlberg, who uses a wheelchair due to the effects of diabetes, said he applied for assistance through the StepForward program after he fell behind on mortgage payments after several surgeries and a divorce.

Parish said he had been conditionally approved through the program and was told his house would not be foreclosed upon while the program processed his application. Yet, Dahlberg received a letter from the program weeks later informing him that his application had been declined due to a clerical error, Parish said.

“Either something fell through the cracks, or someone didn’t do their job,” said Parish, who is acting as a representative for Dahlberg while he recovers from a bacterial infection at a Howell rehabilitation facility.

“It’s a nightmare,” said Dahlberg, who said his faith is helping him through his situation. “It’s like I’m in a horror chamber.”




More news story:
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20140711/NEWS01/307110012/Veteran-needs-help-to-get-home-back

GoFundme site:
http://www.gofundme.com/KoreanWarVeteran