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Double-amputee Marine raises nearly $25K for homeless veterans group | TribLIVE.com
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Double-amputee Marine raises nearly $25K for homeless veterans group

Evan Sanders
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
According to Merriam-Webster, homeless means having no place to live. It is estimated that roughly 32% of the homeless veteran population, reside in suburban/rural areas.
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
West Fayette and West Main Streets at Mount Vernon Avenue run past George C. Marshall Memorial Plaza, in Uniontown, and provided the platform for Brandon Rumbaugh, a 26-year-old retired Marine Corps corporal to live at the plaza for nearly a month, sleeping on a cot, to bring attention to the homeless veteran population.
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
Retired Marine Cpl. Brandon Rumbaugh, 26, of Uniontown, spent the month of November living at George C. Marshall Memorial Plaza in Uniontown. The month brought about many donors wanting to contribute money to Rumbaugh's cause. Cpl. Rumbaugh walked into the Veteran's Place of Washington Boulevard in Pittsburgh with brown paper bags containing nearly $25,000 dollars to donate to their mission on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, leaving Monica Robertson, Staff Accountant at the Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard, at a loss for words.
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
Retired Marine Cpl. Brandon Rumbaugh, 26, of Uniontown, spent the month of November living at George C. Marshall Memorial Plaza in Uniontown. The month brought about many donors wanting to contribute money to Rumbaugh's cause. Cpl. Rumbaugh walked into the Veteran's Place of Washington Boulevard in Pittsburgh with brown paper bags containing nearly $25,000 dollars to donate to their mission on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015.
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
Retired Marine Cpl. Brandon Rumbaugh, 26, of Uniontown, shares his story with children at Rainbow Dreams, Inc. Daycare in Uniontown. Rumbaugh, at times, was speaking morning, noon, and night, to whatever organization asked him to share his story of service.
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Evan Sanders | Trib Total Media
“These kids were bringing me their lunch money, telling me to give it to the homeless,” “They got it, as young as they are,” Rumbaugh said of how grade-schoolers at Lafayette Elementary-Middle School were greeting him while he shared a lunch table with them, during the first week of his campaign.

Four empty, brown paper bags sat on a conference table.

A shocked look appeared to be frozen on Monica Robertson's face at Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard in Pittsburgh.

“I can't thank you enough,” Robertson repeatedly told Brandon Rumbaugh, 26, a double-amputee Marine veteran.

He smiled and quipped: “You can keep the bags, too.”

Rumbaugh dumped nearly $25,000 in cash out of the paper bags at the nonprofit's office.

Rumbaugh raised the money while living on a cot at George C. Marshall Memorial Plaza in Uniontown during November. He did so to raise awareness of homeless veterans.

The idea came to him on a sleepless night. He wanted to learn what it is truly like to live without a home.

Rumbaugh crossed paths with plenty of strangers who helped him achieve his goal. The money he raised throughout the month will help Veterans Place, which aids homeless veterans, to make a difference.

Evan Sanders is a Trib Total Media photographer. Reach him at esanders@tribweb.com.