Jake Holloway had been shopping at the Altoona Walmart and Target shops for a few weeks and had observed the same silver Jeep Wrangler in their parking lots each time. One day, he saw a sticker on the rear window of the car, which prompted him to go take a closer look and speak with the driver.
When Jake learned what had been going on, it did not sit well with him. Jake decided to look into the subject further after seeing that the sticker on the vehicle’s window was an “I Served” in Iraq decal.
He does not know who this person is, and he don’t know his complete background,” Jake said. Over the last several weeks, there has been a silver Jeep Wrangler in the Altoona Walmart and Target parking lots. It switches back and forth between times. He eventually had the courage to pull over when he spotted an ‘I served” Iraq sticker on the rear windscreen.
Jake ended up speaking with the vehicle’s occupant, Nick, and discovered that he’s been going through some difficult times since leaving the service. When Nick came home from deployment, his wife had abandoned him, and all he had to his name was his Jeep and his devoted companion, a boxer dog.
Nick told Jake his terrible tale and said that he had been sleeping in his Car for some time. He had just been employed by the Department of Transportation, however he had yet to get his first payment. Jake decided to assist the suffering veteran after hearing this. That was the very least he could do for a man who had battled for our liberties.
If one wants to do anything for someone out of sheer altruism, please… Jake begged people to assist. If one happens to see him. From the goodness of one’s heart. Do a pleasant gesture for him or his closest buddy (the boxer dog). A few dollars. A present. He has some dog food. This is his desire. Seeing a military person on the street makes him sad.
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…
Posted by Jake Holloway on Tuesday, 22 December 2015
That seems to make the nice folks of Altoona ill as well. After the story’s virality, there was an overwhelming response of support for Nick and his dog, with scores of individuals stopping by the Walmart to drop off anything from gift cards to money, with some even bringing Nick food for his devoted companion. One really kind individual even paid for Nick and his dog to stay in a hotel for a week.
The outpouring of love for Nick, who served in the military and conducted deployments abroad, has been overwhelming. Everyone seemed to be eager to assist the struggling veteran, and he appeared to get all he needed to get by until he was paid for his new work and saved enough for an apartment.
Congratulations to Jake Holloway for going above and beyond to make a miracle happen for a veteran who was down on his luck. He might have simply gone about his life without doing anything, but rather, his kind spirit guaranteed that Nick had a warm place to sleep and that his closest buddy was well cared for.
