Six years ago, and busy raising twin boys, U.S. Army Veteran Steve Linder pitched Veterans Community Project Co-Founder and fellow Army Vet Brandonn Mixon with an idea:

“I asked him, ‘Why don’t you guys do the automatic payment thing?’” Steve said, explaining, “That way, if I get distracted with life, the money still comes—and you can keep helping Veterans.”

Two days later, Steve smiled when he and fellow VCP supporters received an email from Brandonn announcing the launch of a new monthly giving community program called Honor Corps.

Steve clicked through and became the first Honor Corps member with a $25 donation. Since then, with 72 monthly gifts of his own and those from over 500 other supporters joining him, the Honor Corps community has now surpassed more than $1 million in collective support for Veterans.

Their impact is massive. That generosity has led to previously homeless Veterans spending thousands of nights with roofs over their heads and with the support of our proven H.O.M.E.S. Index case management model outside of their front doors.

“There are so many people who believe in this mission,” Steve says. “And it all adds up, whether $10, $25, or $100 each month, every dollar counts when you’re trying to save people’s lives.”

For Steve, getting involved with VCP and launching Honor Corps has also given him the sense of camaraderie he knew he’d miss when he separated from the Army as an E5 Sergeant in 2010. He had served 14 years in the Reserves in heavy equipment transportation and psychological operations roles and was twice deployed on active-duty orders to Iraq.

When Steve talks about that service, he leads with the relationships he developed through it. He says that military connections are just different than anything else. Take, for instance, the way he describes his best friend met during service: “This is the type of guy who, if I was on the moon and told him I needed help, he’d book a flight to the moon and wait to ask questions until he got there.”

For that reason, it was an emotional decision to separate from the Army—feeling, at some level, like he was leaving others behind. He remembers his hand shaking when he signed his discharge paperwork. But he says, too, that, “Deployments are really tough on families. And I wanted to be a more present dad who was around all the time. To be able to watch them grow up and do all the things.”

In the years that followed, Steve has indeed been around for all the things, which lately includes cheering from the sidelines at the baseball and soccer tournaments that dominate the weekend time once reserved for monthly Army drills. And professionally, he has also grown into a leadership role in his civilian career at Kansas City icon Boulevard Brewing Company.

All the while, he has also remained committed to keeping in touch with those he served with (“It’s the only reason I’m on Facebook,” he chuckles) and providing support for Veterans in need. For example, in addition to launching Honor Corps, he also led a partnership between Boulevard and VCP in 2022 to brew up a special edition of KC Pils beer in which a portion of the sales proceeds went toward Veteran services.

Now, looking ahead, he says the $1 million Honor Corps milestone is a cool moment but that the mission continues. “There are still a lot of Veterans out there struggling,” he says. And whether his monthly $25 contribution helps fund the salaries of on-site case managers or pays for the lock on the door of a tiny home, he trusts that his donations are reaching them.

Through the support, Steve says that he and his wife are also intentional about raising their boys to understand that giving back is part of life. And when his monthly car insurance payment doubled after the brothers turned 15 and got their learner permits, it was an opportunity to talk about family finances (Netflix may be on the chopping block, but Honors Corps is not, he jokes—mostly).

Steve says he is grateful for the hundreds of others who are also willing to make personal sacrifices to support a mission bigger than themselves. He hopes sharing his story will inspire others to join Honor Corps as well as send a message to Veterans in crisis or at risk of homelessness.

“I am proud of the program, sure,” he says, “But more so what gives me pride is that there are Veterans out there willing to ask for help—and who, in VCP, have a place to do that.”