Last year Janet and I attended a fundraising dinner supporting a veteran’s charity in Charleston, South Carolina. In between the silent auction and the formal dinner someone who looked strangely familiar stopped me and asked, “Are you Gabe Smith?” “I am.” I replied, as my mind went into overdrive trying to figure out where I knew the man standing in front of me. “I’m Charlie Hall and you were my squad leader at West Point.” he said. My jaw dropped as the memories of that summer over 20 years ago came flooding back.
We exchanged information and discovered that we live only a few miles from each other in Greenville. Later we met to catch up. That meeting, as it would turn out, would be significant for the work of East Mountain.
Over chips and salsa I learned that Charlie, now a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, founded and leads a non-profit called Upstate Warrior Solution (UWS). In 2012, coincidentally the same year we founded East Mountain, Charlie and other community leaders founded UWS after identifying a palpable need to connect veterans to the network of organizations and services available. Last year UWS served over 1,800 veterans in the Upstate of South Carolina.
Over the next several months, Charlie and I continued to connect and discuss possible synergies between East Mountain’s vision to offer powerful encounters for deep and purposeful life with Jesus and UWS’s mission to connect warriors and their families to services. Last month those conversations culminated in East Mountain hosting UWS staff for an off-site meeting and lunch. After the meal, I shared East Mountain’s vision to provide powerful learning environments for veterans (and others) to grow in their relationship with Jesus. The response of UWS staff was simply amazing. Several immediately volunteered to help with landscaping, furniture, activities and meals. One former Marine, a recent convert, asked if he could apply for residency. Others asked when they could come to a retreat.
The partnership with UWS has already been incredibly life giving. I’m excited to see how the Lord will use it in the weeks and months to come for his glory! To learn more about Charlie and the UWS team you can visit their website at https://upstatewarriorsolution.org/,
Gabe Smith, EM Co-Founder & EM Greenville Executive Director