LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A veteran says he’s giving back to a program that helped turn his life around.
He’s collecting donations at his family-owned business in Henderson. Imperial Auto and Truck Service Center’s Operations Manager, Jeremy Kiner, is staying busy this holiday season, collecting and donating clothing to the North Las Vegas VA’s Residential Recovery and Renewal Center.
“I’ve been up there eight times in the last month, so twice a week basically, which is a good feeling,” Kiner says. “It gives me a purpose, and I enjoy it very much.”
Kiner is a United States Marine Corps veteran. He says the VA helped him through a substance use disorder.
“I stayed for 45 days, and as I look back, the rest is just history. There was a lot of outpatient therapy after that, and I still to this day am in therapy,” Kiner says.
Now, he’s taking every opportunity to return the favor through a year-round donation drive. This holiday season, he delivered an extra special donation from a Henderson woman who lost her husband in July.
She did not want to go on camera, but says because she won’t be Christmas shopping for her husband this year, she wanted to buy and donate clothing instead.
Her husband was an Air Force veteran. She says she wanted to take the donation to the VA herself, but memories made the trip too emotional.
That’s when Kiner stepped in to deliver it for her.
“It was really emotional, for her and for me because, you know it meant a lot to her, I could see how much it meant to her to bring those clothes,” Kiner says. “You meet a lot of great people, and she was one of them for sure.”
She says Kiner saved her not only gas, but tears, and that her husband would have loved to see how the story turned out.
Kiner collects donations for the VA at Imperial Auto and Truck Service Center in Henderson year-round. He says anyone is welcome to drop off clothing that will go directly to veterans in need.
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