VIDEO: “7 Days for the Troops”

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)- In Tupelo, at the Mall in Barnes Crossing, the annual fundraiser “7 Days for the Troops” is currently taking place.

The event raises money for Purple Heart Homes, which rebuilds the homes of injured veterans and makes them handicap accessible.

The event was started by area resident, Scott Burns, who himself is a veteran who was injured and needed assistance.

The event has been successful over the years, and the community’s support continues to grow for it every single year.

For those who visit the Mall at Barnes Crossing, they’ll be seeing a little more red, white, and blue when they go eat.

“I will actually camp out here in the food court of the mall for the next 168 hours, 7 days, which that’s where we got the name 7 Days for the Troops, and the money that we raise, one-hundred percent of it, will go to a group called Purple Heart Homes. They rebuild houses and make them handicap accessible for disabled veterans,” says Burns.

This is the eleventh year that Burns has held this event.

For the tenth anniversary, he announced that would be the last time.

“To stay camped out in the food court of the mall, for a week, 24/7 for 7 days, it drains on you,” says Burns.

The community did their best to make Burns reconsider.

“The mall came to me back in February and said ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do the event again?’ Then two of my sponsors came to me and said ‘Hey. We haven’t heard from you. Are you doing your event again,” says Burns.

He now says the event will continue.

Burns is happy to contribute to the organization that helped him several years ago.

“I was not able to get around my house, so pretty much if I was in my wheelchair I couldn’t go from room to room without someone helping… Me having my house handicap accessible, with my doors widened and my bathroom handicapped, then it takes a lot of pressure and stress off of my family,” says Burns.

Now more families throughout the area and the country will be able to feel that same relief because this event and a caring community.

Burns says Northeast Mississippi is looking at starting their own branch of Purple Heart Homes, which would guarantee that every cent raised from events like this will stay in the area, helping our local veterans.