Beyond the battlefield: Nonprofit Off-Road Outreach makes a difference in the lives of homeless Veterans through support, service and compassion

By Brian Miner, posted Aug 29, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

After recuperating from a traumatic brain injury, ORO Founder Stacey Buckner is using her appreciation for life to give back. Now, she works to improve the lives of others, one Veteran at a time. Photo provided by Off-Road Outreach.

Since 2015 Veterans in the Fayetteville area have had their lives positively impacted through the efforts of one organization and the specially outfitted Jeep that has become a symbol of hope, caring and belonging for the homeless Veteran community.
Off-Road Outreach (ORO), founded by Stacey Buckner in 2015, is a nonprofit organization which has significantly impacted the lives of homeless Veterans. From its inception until now, ORO has organically grown into something amazing.

ORO is an all-volunteer organization meaning every penny they receive goes directly back to the programs. ORO provides essential services such as mobile showers, food, medical aid and companionship directly to Veterans living on the streets and in encampments around Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Buckner’s journey into Veteran advocacy began after she survived a stroke and traumatic brain injury, which nearly killed her. Surviving that experience profoundly influenced her commitment to help others facing adversity.

“The support I received after my injury from my community was awesome!” Buckner said. “Without that support, I could easily have ended up on the street myself.”

Off-Road Outreach offers suicide prevention services for veterans that includes QPR training, mental health first aid training, suicide prevention symposiums and peer support services in the field.
Photo provided by Off-Road Outreach.

Buckner credits her faith with sustaining her on her road to recovery from her TBI and also with motivating her to do something every day to help others.

“After my TBI, I realized I have a purpose… a reason to be here. I couldn’t just exist anymore after surviving that. I had to use my hands to lift others; to make a difference to even one person is a gift and miracle you can’t deny,” Buckner said.

After seeing a group of homeless Vets on her way to work one day and recognizing the gaps in services for homeless Veterans, she equipped her Jeep to deliver necessities and offer support directly to those in need. This hands-on approach has earned her widespread recognition, including being named a CNN Hero, earning the NC Governor’s Medallion Award, being a recipient of the Tom Miller Advocacy Award and more.

Buckner’s work goes beyond immediate aid; ORO also addresses long term needs by partnering with local organizations to provide comprehensive support, including job training and rehabilitation services. ORO’s efforts have reached thousands of Veterans, demonstrating a commitment to making a sustainable difference in their lives.

ORO’s Veggies for Vets Garden supplies homeless, at-risk and low-income Veterans with fresh home grown fruits and vegetables. The land is worked and tended to by volunteers and Veterans who want to give back to their brothers and sisters facing food scarcity. Photos provided by Off-Road Outreach.

ORO consists of four basic programs which impact issues facing Veterans: Homelessness, Veggies for Vets, Suicide Prevention and Peer Support. Buckner and ORO not only directly serve homeless Veterans and at-risk Vets, but act as advocates and guides for them, leading them through the bureaucratic mazes to get them access to assistance available to them.

“Once we connect one of our Vets with services, we follow up with the service provider and the Veterans themselves. They know we are holding them accountable; they know we will be following up,” Buckner said.

Buckner and ORO are pursuing projects including residential treatment facility partnerships, where they are restoring two large industrial greenhouses to support Vets at the MyRover-Reese Fellowship Home.

A project to create a “Tiny Home” community ran into significant issues with zoning and other problems in Cumberland County, but in true Stacey Buckner fashion, she didn’t let adversity stop her. Those tiny homes are now going to the Lumbee Tribal Council in Robeson County, where the homes will be used to house Lumbee Tribe Veterans.

For businesses and individuals who want to know how they can help, Buckner has the following advice:

“Volunteer! Every business with more than 10 employees should have a volunteer corps. I’d ask you to donate your time before you donate your money. Every person can volunteer their time. We are all sharing this trip together and if we can make a difference to even one other person on our way, how can we not be willing?”

Her attitude and excitement to serve are infectious. She recently left the VA and started a job with Veterans Services of the Carolinas, a position she says aligns her career with her passion for serving at-risk Veterans.

Like a successful coach, she motivates and recruits constantly. She said a single success story is worth it all. She admits we are never going to be without homelessness, “...but I’m still going to do the work. Everyone thinks it’s someone else’s job to do something. Let me tell you something, you’re part of the solution. You can change the world.”

Her final message? “What you do with your time today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. I’ve come to realize that a life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human.”

To volunteer or learn more about ORO’s mission, visit their website: www.offroadoutreach.com/about

The Off-Road Outreach Jeep serves as a way to enrich the lives of homeless Veterans and others by providing meals, mobile hot showers, a small mobile laundry service for clean clothes and kindness. Photo provided by Off-Road Outreach.

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