A high ranking White House heavyweight took time away from advising the President to accept an award at the Log Cabin in Holyoke.

U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the man being honored, but the high praise goes to a Northampton non-profit group called Soldier On, whose mission is to help homeless veterans.

It is a relationship that Mullen began by seeking out Soldier On President Jack Downing.

"He called me and said there is a horrible thing going on on my watch as Joint Chief of Staff. Veterans are continuing to go homeless, and I've been receiving your program and looking at the results of your program and I need to know what’s in your head about homeless vets,” Mullen said.

Since then the Admiral and Soldier On have worked together. They broke ground on a transitional living center in Pittsfield Thursday and throw their support behind a shelter in Leeds.

“When you look at the number is successful outcomes associated with veterans that Soldier On has produced, and you do it one at a time. I think that communities throughout the country and certainly the country at large has great capacity to significantly reduce this problem,” said Admiral Mike Mullen.

Also on hand for the event, ABC anchorman Bob Woodruff. He was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006. Now, he fights for better care of servicemen and women back from the battle field.

"You know I have kind of grown like brother and sister to so many others that have gone through this. No one ever expected that trauma brain injury and PTSD would be the ones. I think we know better than anyone else before, we become so close, it’s been so personal to me if we could only help one life, save one life, then it’s going to be well worth it,” Woodruff said.

One of many lives made better by Soldier On, is that of Marine Corp. Veteran James Williams. The organization helped him through the veterans assistance program after he was homeless.

“If I didn’t have this program, I could be buried right now. I’m a young man. I’m just 38 years old, and I was on a decline with destruction,” Williams said.