USMC Vietnam Veteran, Clyde Hoch
Clyde was doing research for a book he was writing based on veteran suicides. He felt alarmed and amazed at the amount of veteran suicides as he was gathering information for his book. He felt he wanted to do something about it. He did volunteer work for the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office with a program called Veterans Mentor Program, where a veteran might have a small offense against them with the law and through proper consideration, they are given a mentor to help them get their life back together. Clyde thought it would be a good idea to help Veterans before they got in trouble with the law so he created Veterans Brotherhood. As the organization began to take shape Clyde approached Anna Rodriguez (Gold Star Mother) and asked if she would be interested in joining. She filed for a 501c3 in Jan 2016 and Veterans Brotherhood, Inc. officially became a non-profit organization. Since that time we have helped Veterans with back taxes, car payments, rent, food, clothes and car repairs. We have taken over a hundred Veterans off the streets which consisted of placing them in hotel rooms until they were evaluated and then found proper places for them to live. We have given gift cards to some Veterans families that have come up short during holidays or to help with their children. Following up with some of the people that we have helped, we were able to see how their lives have been change and in some cases, saved. Some have gotten jobs as well as enrolled in school. Veterans Brotherhood, Inc. also offers mentoring for veterans who need someone to talk to. Veteran to veteran is one of the best therapies for both individuals. Four individuals in Veterans Brotherhood, Inc. are certified mentors through the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office and one is a therapist for the VA. Veterans Brotherhood, Inc. is headquartered in Pennsburg, PA. We have monthly meetings that are held at the Lehigh Valley Active Life Center at 1633 Elm St in Allentown, on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM and everyone is welcome, veteran or non-veteran. There are no dues. No one is paid. All donations go directly to veterans. We look forward to seeing you there. The men and women at Veterans Brotherhood are the finest you could find. No organization has done so much for our veterans with so little.