Today, it’s easy to forget about the men and women who have dedicated their lives, sacrificed their futures, and have given their all, to come home to sleepless nights, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) or defeating disabilities.
For Piper Hill, her inspiration for providing support to an ever-growing group of veterans came from one, lovable, triumphing companion, Valentine.
Piper Hill, Healing4Heroes Founder and Army Veteran
Hill began her life as a United States Army Logistics officer, retiring in 2010 as a Captain, with 17 years of service under her belt. But before the Army, Hill had the opportunity to go to college at Louisiana State University for graphic design work, which she turned down.
“I gave up a potential $250,000 job offer to make $23,000 a year; wearing the same green uniform every day, big old heavy black boots, with my hair in a bun, all to serve this great nation we all live in. All I’ve ever wanted to do was serve my country and protect the people that I love. So, I chose to be an active duty officer.”
But choosing the Army life meant dealing with the imperfections that came with it. During the Iraq and Afghanistan war, Hill experienced a brain injury, forcing her to retire, and erasing three to four years of her life, of which she will never remember.
“During the time I was lucid, I wanted to try and hide it, stay in the military and serve my country, do the job I was trained to do, but it was not possible.”
Hill endured many struggles during her brain injury, including, not knowing her own name, re-learning how to read and write, being deemed illiterate and some days, unsure which way her pants should be worn. But there was one specific friend that had her full attention,
“What I do remember is that whole three to four years, when I was in bed looking at the ceiling, slobbering on myself, I remember my dog, Valentine.”
Hill says sometimes it’s because of Valentine, never leaving her side, doing everything she could to make Hill’s life better. The sole purpose of how Piper Hill started Healing 4 Heroes.
When Hill first began training Valentine, the sweet American Bulldog, it was little things, like retrieving medicine, which Hill described as a victory for Valentine to learn, considering the basic commands a dog can be taught. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing right away,
“Valentine might not have gotten the commands right on the first time, but she would sure clean out the bathroom trying to bring me all the meds in there to make it better,” Hill says.
Piper and Shakey, her current partner.
In fact, Hill never intended for her special training to lead to connecting veterans with second chances. But it was the impact Hill experienced by watching men and women return from war,
“I was thinking, good Lord, this is going to be really hard on some people, and I didn’t want it to be another Vietnam where they got thrown away and told not to worry,” Hill says.
As Hill fuels the opportunity for veterans, she advocates for them being able to fight; every penny of their retirement, their mental health, and well-being. The hard truth was that she couldn’t fight all those battles on her own,
“I try to give them a Valentine to go fight their battle, help them fight to get through whatever hardship they’re going through during their day. Whether it be getting meds or helping them off the ground when they fall, or just helping them go grocery shopping, because macaroni and cheese after war is a lot different than macaroni and cheese before war,” says Hill.
For the last five years, the Georgia based nonprofit has thrived off of volunteer staff, comprised one hundred percent of veterans, to keep the organization open and running. But with each year bringing more veterans seeking help, it becomes more difficult to manage the growth. Hill’s business plan started with 25 veterans a year, which they’ve “crucified every single year,” serving approximately 123 veterans with service dogs.
In total, H4H has paired 500 veterans with about 50 different service dogs, not just in the Georgia area, but all over the United States. In the future, H4H plans to move in the direction of hiring paid employees, instilling that permanent feeling of accountability for the heart and soul that is ingrained into their mission.
“We go through growing pains about three times a year, because I know the bullets and beans and all that good stuff that’s in the Army manual. But running a nonprofit is not in any manual I’ve ever read. Fortunately, I have enough smarts and enough good people around me that are making this happen; good companies like Signal 88 Security, that have come to my rescue several times and it’s been phenomenal,” Hill says.
After 11 years of running this organization, Hill never realized how much this could affect her. One particular letter though, from a child that had thought they’d never get their parent back, changed her perspective.
“The letter said, ‘thank you for giving me my daddy back’”, which in that moment, Hill understood the strength that, “we’re putting an entire family back together with a service dog, that’s helping everybody. So that’s the incredible part of this journey, and it’s one of my favorite parts of this journey.”
Written by Signal 88 Security. Signal 88 Security is proud to support Piper in her journey to continue to provide support for our military veterans through the Healing 4 Heroes initiative. To help us support our non-profit partner, click here to donate, or follow them social media.
If you are a veteran in need, or know of a veteran in need click here to find out more about the application process and extensive support services available through the Healing 4 Heroes network.