Help provide housing and other support for Illinois Veterans with your purchase of a 7X Bingo Multiplier Instant Ticket from the Illinois Lottery 

In 2006 the Illinois Lottery launched the first Instant Lottery ticket in the country that designated 100 percent of its profits toward organizations that support veterans in Illinois. Working with the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA), the Illinois Lottery has raised over $23 million to fund the Veterans Cash program that has awarded grants to more than 400 Veteran support organizations to date. These groups provide various essential services, including housing assistance, long-term care, disability benefits, employment services, food and clothing pantries, and treatment for post-traumatic stress to the more than half million veterans who live in the state of Illinois. In 2024, the Illinois Lottery introduced a new joint specialty ticket where a portion of the profits raised go toward ten worthy causes, including veterans support programs in Illinois. Just in time for the holiday season, the 7X Bingo Multiplier Instant Ticket, which has a fun, bright green color, costs $5 and is available for purchase at more than 7,000 Illinois Lottery retailers throughout the state. Visit the Illinois Lottery website for more information, and read on to learn about the Central Illinois Veterans Commission (CIVC), which supports honorable and general discharged veterans in their journey toward a permanent home.

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The value of having a safe and secure place to call home cannot be overstated. For individuals and families, stable housing is associated with greater physical and mental wellness, educational and financial outcomes, and social cohesion, all of which enables them to plan for the future. For communities, low levels of housing insecurity and homelessness are associated with reduced crime rates and environmental impacts, as well as thriving local economies and greater civic pride.

For millions of Americans, though, the very idea of obtaining permanent housing can feel like a pipe dream. That’s especially true among many who have served in the country’s military; The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that while Veterans comprise about 7 percent of Americans ages 18 and older, they comprise nearly 13 percent of the country’s population of homeless adults.

Illinois, which is home to more than 530,000 Veterans, is no stranger to that reality. Last year the Illinois Veterans Advisory Council reported that roughly 7 percent of Veterans who reside in the state live in poverty. Among that population, more than 700 are unhoused, a figure that offers a small snapshot of a larger picture, as it does not account for those living in temporary or other tenuous situations.

The Central Illinois Veterans Commission (CIVC) has been working hard to change that, one Veteran at a time. The Lincoln, Illinois, based organization aims to provide Central Illinois Veterans with the tools and support systems they need to obtain a permanent home. To do so, they partner with a broad range of agencies, including the Veterans Association (VA), educational institutions, and nonprofit groups to connect local Veterans with opportunities for job training, mental health support, financial coaching, and more, however they may be most recognized for their program that provides Veterans with Tiny Homes.

It all started with Joe Schaler, a Vietnam Veteran and Purple Heart recipient who founded CIVC in 2018. “He came back [from Vietnam] and had a career and everything, but he always remembered what it was like to come home,” CIVC secretary Patti Schonauer says. “So he made it his mission to find ways to help Veterans reacclimate when they came back from their service.”

With CIVC, Schaler honed in on housing as the core of that mission. “He had a really strong heart for homeless Veterans, or those that couldn’t find their way to financially support themselves; those who might be couch surfing or living in shelters, with relatives, or whoever,” Schonaur said. 

When Schaler learned about organizations that build tiny houses for Veterans, he decided to launch a similar initiative in Central Illinois. CIVC’s first three tiny houses were built on a plot of land in Lincoln that a local businessman donated. “With the support of the community and several foundations and corporations, we were financially able to build those homes and award those to three veterans; today, there are two single veterans and one couple living in them,” Schonauer says. Since then, they’ve built two more homes in Lincoln, and two more in nearby Atlanta.

Each CIVC tiny home is built on donated plots of land using primarily volunteer labor, and Schonauer says they each cost about $90,000 to complete and furnish. Given the high demand, Veterans must complete CIVC’s application process to be considered for a house. Veterans aren’t required to pay rent or a mortgage, but they must be able to cover utilities and real estate taxes (which Schonauer describes as “minimal”), and commit to upkeep of the home and surrounding yard. 

After ten years, the home is officially transferred into the Veteran’s name, but even then, the Veteran is still surrounded by community support—some of which takes the most literal form of that term. “The two-by-fours that are used in the home, we take to different schools or gatherings where we’re speaking, and people will sign them and wish the Veteran well,” Schonauer says. 

Schaler sadly passed away in May 2024, but his spirit and vision live on in Central Illinois and beyond. As they look to the future, CIVC hopes to continue building tiny homes for Central Illinois Veterans while providing a model for other groups to build tiny homes for Veterans in their communities. “We’re working on our strategic planning now to look at, you know, what we really want to do in the next few years, but we also have tried to look at how we could handle helping other communities,” Schonauer says. 

In the meantime, you can play a part in helping CIVC and other Illinois organizations continue their missions of supporting local Veterans with your purchase of a 7X Bingo Multiplier Instant Ticket from the Illinois Lottery.

To learn more about CIVC and how you can support Illinois Veterans, visit civeteran.org.