I'm Back from New York City
My experience was wonderful. I will be sharing some of the videos that we made as I receive the clips.
One of the topics I asked to share was Military, Military Families, Veterans and Veterans Families.
I discussed some of the broken links between services needed and funding sources.
The VAMC is not staffed to deal with the load of soldiers being discharged from the military.
The Wounded Warrior Program was filling some of the need by providing monies to Courage Beyond.
Recently some states, Wounded Warrior Program is not filling the grant under Courage Beyond. In Tennessee, Department of Mental Health gave Courage Beyond monies to pay providers in the community to treat veterans and families. The monies lasted 3 weeks. For our community, I made the offer to continue treatment for families, if they could pay $50. Some stayed, some couldn't afford the $50. That cost was 1/2 what I was being reimbursed by Courage Beyond.
The organization I was with in New York City, asked me to consider opening a GoFundMe account for this cause. I did so Wednesday night. The organization stated they would help market this to pull funds in.
If you would like more information about this, please send me a PM and I will give you more information.
I was also asked to educate the civilian community regarding the issues our military and families are struggling with. This is what I told them as of this time:
If you see a soldier, veteran with a cap/jacket insignia, please "Thank Them."
If you are somewhere that you see a soldier eating, offer to pay the tab if you can afford it.
Donate your time, money, effort for these individuals. After all they are fighting for all of our freedom.
The soldiers love homemade goods. Send a care package. Some of the soldiers have zero family members..so when the care packages come, all are shared. The soldiers love to receive cards, letters, anything that says "I care about..."
Some of our nation is becoming numb about this war, but it is steadily going on.
I treat these individuals for mental health needs all week and the stories they bring in are horrific. They cannot say "No I am not going to deploy." Some have been on 3, 4, 8, 10 deployments. Can you imagine what their families feel? What the soldier feels?
If you are willing to help, there is a website I will pass onto you to see what they are doing.
Thanks for listening to me on my journey to get help for people like me (I'm a military brat, endured the hell of Vietnam, but the Vet still is bat-shit-crazy and won't get help.) I have lived with that behavior too long to ignore it. So I am attempting to help as early as I can.
Sharon Davis
Recent Comments
19
What a commendable act of kindness.
Thank you for sharing your NY experience with us.
Glad you had a good time.
Lets hope the new presidential administration follows through with the campaign promises to take care of the vets.
They really deserve all the help they need from the country they served.
gofundme.com/help-our-vets-get-help Here you go. Please let me know what you think. Thanks Jeff
Thanks MPollock. I had a blast with the shoot and can't wait to see how it came out. My sister was with me and she watched and listened. She said "You sound like you know what you are talking about." I just didn't want to get too tongue tied. Now I have to figure out now to do such with my own self.
You are very welcome. I can't believe I actually was able to do such a thing. I never dreamed I could or would even be asked. But dreams come true. They treated us like royalty.
I think it is wonderful that you are doing all this to help vets. God bless you. Jeannie
Sharon,
I'm sure your efforts are appreciated in this very worthy cause. I honestly hadn't ever thought about these ways of showing gratitude to our soldiers so thank you. It really is the least we can to for people who put their lives on the line for us.
I'm happy to hear that your visit to NYC went well!
Erica
Thanks for sharing, Sharon.
I'm a Swiss-Canadian, haven't had to deal with war, which I thank God for having spared me this challenge.
I admire and respect your effort, and bow before your experiences.
Would appreciate the info about the site, we need to learn in order to really appreciate.
Thank you .
Cheers
Therese
Thanks for sharing. My brother was a Vietnam veteran and he was not the same person when he returned home. Some of the stories he told were grim.
I wish you strength as you continue your work.
Thanks, Msdakaz. I have pain for that era of soldiers. For them to have to hang their head when they returned to the US. Be called baby killers. So sad.
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I am not a veteran, so I feel unqualified for this subject. However, I have had personal experience with vets with problems. Some people can deal with their experiences and others can't. Why? There is a conflict between moral teachings as we grow up and the realities of war. Unfortunately war is a very human response to unsettled arguments. It's as old as mankind itself. We will never be able to sort this out and there is not enough space here for a book. My family members who served during WW2 had a nation reassuring them that they were just in there actions. Not so today in the all volunteer services. I thank and bless you for your caring. Best regards, Bob.
You are very welcome Bob. I appreciate your comments. Sharon