Palmdale veteran rewarded with free car

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- It was an emotional moment for Tiffany Derosier as the U.S. Army veteran showed up to a popular Lancaster brewery knowing she's going to receive a refurbished 2016 Toyota Corolla.

The organization Vets 4 Veterans heard that she needed transportation to get to work and to carry on her grandfather's tradition of maintaining the veterans' gravestones at the Historic Palmdale Cemetery.

And, because of what she's survived, she also does important volunteer work for Antelope Valley female veterans.

"It's called military sexual trauma," says Derosier, "I experienced that in the Army and other women that have experienced that. We have a group at the vet center and we get together. Because of those women, and the other veterans who inspired me to live a better life than I was living because I had been in that hole for so long. That's the camaraderie, the sisterhood and brotherhood, that I've experienced in the last couple of years when I needed it the most."

The veterans gathered at the event say they try their best, with limited resources, to take care of fellow veterans in the Antelope Valley.

Vets 4 Veterans has been around for nine years. In that time they've raised more than $90,000 to help veterans pay for the basics.

"We have no red tape," says Tom Hilzendeger, the group's founder. "People need groceries right then, so I'll take them to Walmart or another grocery store and we'll get groceries. We help with putting veterans that are homeless into a motel room for a couple of nights."

Vets 4 Veterans has also paid college tuition for Antelope Valley vets and helped with transportation needs.

Tiffany Derosier says her stint in the Army was short, but her ties to the veteran's community in the Antelope Valley will last her lifetime.