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Paul Mills Sr. has raised about $10,000 over the last two Januarys.

A tragic loss prompted an SAL Detachment of Pennsylvania member to spend part of the past two Januarys sleeping outside to raise funds and awareness to help homeless veterans.

Paul Mills Sr., a member of Squadron 131 in Lock Haven, Pa., and the District 16 historian, began Operation Help Veterans in 2025.

“It’s in honor of a good friend of mine who was a veteran and he was homeless. He took his own life a few years back,” said Mills, who added that he found the veteran after his suicide. “I wasn’t able to really help him, you know, besides give him food, whatever. He was living in a tent. I’d go check on him every couple of days.”

Mills sat with the loss before coming up with the idea to spend a weekend sleeping outside Post 1 in Williamsport, Pa. He chose the second week of January because that’s when he found his friend.

“People ask me all the time why I don’t do it in the summer. Well, it was the second week of January when I found my friend, so it’s in honor of him,” Mills said.

The effort in 2025 raised over $6,000, which Mills donated to American Rescue Workers. The local nonprofit has provided homelessness and hunger prevention services in Williamsport and Lycoming County since 1934.

Although he didn’t have final donation numbers yet, Mills’ campout the weekend of Jan. 16 brought in close to $5,000, he said.

“I had to tap out early this year, I got ill, I got hypothermia,” Mills said.

That won’t stop him from doing it again next year, though.

“I’ll have a different setup next year,” Mills said. “We’ve got to remind (the government) every now and then that (the homeless veterans are) out there.”