“I’m not one to sit by and see an injustice.  It’s in my makeup. If I see hurt – I will do anything to stop it,” says Geoffrey Steiner when asked why he volunteers so much of his time. He is a disabled Vietnam Veteran, however, despite his disability, for the past 30 years Steiner has been planting trees for every dead and missing soldier from the Vietnam War.  He has planted over 200,000 trees which are displayed on his 100 acre home in Cushing, MN.  People come from all over the world to see this living Memorial and to this day, he continues to plant new trees and replace old ones.

Along with planting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Forrest, Steiner is also dedicated to helping improve the lives of living Vets.  As a trained psychotherapist, Steiner has done 33 years of suicide volunteer work.  He has received filing cabinets full of letters and hundreds of phone calls from suicidal, hurting vets and their families.  Not one person was left unanswered.  He made sure to write everyone back and called every single person who had ever left a message – even though it racked up his phone bill so high he couldn’t afford to pay it. Vets would come to see him in his small town of 65, many of which were homeless or had just gotten out of prison.  No matter whom they were, Steiner would put them up in his house and get them clothes by volunteering at the Little Falls Clothing Review. On top of his work with Veterans, he has also volunteered with Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts, Cadet Squadron, Big Brother of Morrison county and working with mentally Handicap children.

Steiner is the only person to be recognized as an “Unsung Hero” by People Magazine, Newsweek and Readers Digest three years in a row.  He has survived alcoholism and suicide attempts in his struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and is now fighting the debilitating effects of Lime Disease. He says he will still do whatever it takes to educate others on PTSD so they never have to experience the pain he went through.