Burden BearerFree help for veterans and military families
You carried the weight for us. Let us help carry it now.
Burden Bearer helps veterans, service members, and their families claim the benefits they earned, find support for mental health and recovery, and build stable, independent lives. You don't have to figure it out alone.
It costs you nothing. No fees, no percentage of your back pay, ever.
Getting started
How it works
Three steps, at your pace. We'll explain everything along the way.
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Reach out
Call or email us. Tell us a little about your service and what's going on. There's no paperwork to start and no cost, ever.
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We review your record
We look at your current benefits and history to find what may have been missed: conditions never claimed, ratings set too low, or survivor benefits never filed.
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We walk with you
We build your claim and connect you to mental health care, housing, and other support. We stay with you until you have answers.
What we offer
Support for the whole journey
Benefits screening and recovery
We find unclaimed conditions, ratings that should be higher, and effective dates that should reach further back.
Survivor and family benefits
We help surviving spouses and dependents pursue the benefits their loved one's service earned them.
Mental health and recovery
Led by a clinical mental health professional, we connect you to care for PTSD, depression, and substance use, and make sure the handoff sticks.
Coming home from incarceration
We start before release, restoring benefits and health care and lining up housing and work so you come home to stability.
Housing and stability
We work alongside housing partners to help veterans who are homeless or at risk find a stable place and keep it.
Education for families and partners
We teach families, courts, and community groups about veteran benefits and the hidden wounds of service.
Every Burden Bearer service is free.
Why a review matters
VA disability ratings move in 10-percent steps, and each step raises monthly compensation for life. For example, a veteran rated at 50% whose record supports 80% is missing three steps every month until someone files.
Our team's record
What's possible
of veteran advocacy by our founder, including more than 20 years serving homeless veterans.
recovered for a surviving spouse, retroactive to 1996. Her husband was awarded 100% but passed before receiving it.
in retroactive recoveries for each of several veterans whose claims had been under-rated or denied.
A favorable appeal for a retired brigadier general corrected an effective date by three decades.
"Don't assume you're receiving everything you deserve just because you already have VA benefits."Vietnam-era Army veteran, now at maximum benefits
Now serving Maryland
Coming to Baltimore
Maryland is home to more than 360,000 veterans, and the Baltimore region sits at the heart of a three-state community of veterans, service members, and military families.
In 2026, Burden Bearer is bringing its work to Baltimore City and the surrounding counties, partnering with courts, correctional agencies, and housing providers so more veterans get the support they've earned.
Why we start with benefits
Stability you can build on
Earned benefits mean steady income and health care for life. A veteran coming home with restored compensation has a foundation to stand on. A surviving spouse who receives her benefits can keep her home. That's why recovering what you earned is often our first step together.
Who we are
About Burden Bearer
Burden Bearer was founded by Brenda Garard, a clinical mental health professional with more than 25 years in veteran advocacy. Her father, brothers, husband, son, and daughter all served, and she is the surviving spouse of an Army retiree. She knows the VA system from the family's side as well as the veteran's.
She holds a master's degree in clinical mental health and bachelor's degrees in psychology and criminal justice, is fluent in American Sign Language, and has presented to judges and veterans treatment courts on PTSD and its impact on military families.
Our mission. Burden Bearer, Inc. advocates for, educates, and empowers veterans, service members, and their families. We help them secure the benefits they have earned, access mental health and recovery support, overcome homelessness and the challenges of justice involvement, and rebuild stable, independent lives, so that no one who served has to carry their burdens alone.
Our values. Burden Bearer was founded on the conviction, rooted in our founder's faith, that we are called to help carry one another's burdens. That conviction shapes how we serve: with dignity, persistence, and compassion for every veteran and family. Our services are provided free of charge and without regard to religious belief or participation.
- Legal name
- Burden Bearer, Inc.
- Status
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- EIN
- 86-1524063
- Incorporated
- Georgia, 2020
- Address
- 1255 Commercial Dr SW, Ste A
Conyers, GA 30094 - Service area
- Georgia; expanding to Baltimore, Maryland
- Leadership
- Brenda M. Garard, Founder & CEO
We're here for you
Let's talk
Veterans, family members, and partner organizations are all welcome to reach out. We'll listen first. And remember, our help costs you nothing.
Phone
770-912-8828
burdenbearer180@gmail.com
Office
1255 Commercial Dr SW, Ste A, Conyers, GA 30094
If you are in crisis right now, call 988 and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line, any time, day or night.