One veteran stopped for another. Now thousands are helped.

Rick Mulligan was driving home from work in Hampton, Virginia, when he spotted a man in an electric wheelchair with no lower legs, waving a flag that read "Veteran, Please help!" Nobody in the fast-food parking lot was paying attention. Mulligan, an Army veteran himself, parked his truck and introduced himself. The man, Randolf, had been trying to get into the VA, but it was full, and his landlord was getting sore about rent. Mulligan came back with cash, sandwiches, an umbrella and a cooler of bottled water. He went home still fuming, and his wife asked what he was going to do about it. The next day he opened a fundraising account at his bank, where the manager, also a veteran, set it up in five minutes. Within a month he had raised more than $3,000. His nonprofit, the Veterans Care Project, now hosts holiday feasts and visits the VA hospital. "You haven't forgotten us," one outpatient told him at a Walmart checkout, then wrapped him in a hug.