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U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Announces Finalists for 9th Annual Hiring Our Heroes Awards Recognizing Employers and Individuals that Have Gone Above and Beyond to Hire, Retain, and Empower Our Nation’s Veterans and Military Spouses

Saturday, November 2nd, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation today announced the finalists for the 9th annual Hiring Our Heroes awards. These 24 finalists have demonstrated leadership in addressing the challenges faced by veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses, and military caregivers in their search for meaningful employment.

“This year’s award finalists are recognized for their tremendous impact on the military community by leading innovative employment programs and initiatives for military-connected talent,” said Eric Eversole, a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and president of Hiring Our Heroes. “They have demonstrated leadership in creating long-term economic opportunities for transitioning service members, veterans, military spouses, and caregivers.” The Hiring Our Heroes awards are presented in six categories: Veteran and Military Spouse Employment; Military Community Nonprofit Leadership; Post-9/11 Veteran Employment; Wounded Veteran and Military Caregiver Employment; Military Spouse Employment and Mentoring; and Individual Leadership. This year’s finalists are:

Lee Anderson Veteran and Military Spouse Employment Award, for overall excellence in hiring and retaining veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses: Accenture; DaVita; Prudential Financial; and Walmart.

Military Community Nonprofit Leadership Award, for demonstrated commitment to supporting veteran and military spouse employment and economic opportunity: PenFed Foundation; PsychArmor; NextOp; and Operation Gratitude.

Steve Robinson Post-9/11 Veteran Employment Award, for effective and sustained efforts to enhance the ability of post-9/11 veterans and transitioning service members to find meaningful employment: Cushman & Wakefield; LinkedIn; Salesforce; and Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Wounded Veteran and Military Caregiver Employment Award, for demonstrated leadership in addressing the unique challenges and demands for wounded, ill, and injured veterans as well as military caregivers in their search for meaningful employment: AARP; Amazon; Hilton Hotels; and Wounded Warrior Project.

Military Spouse Employment and Mentoring Award, for demonstrated hiring, mentorship, and support of military spouses in their search for meaningful employment: B.E.A.T. LLC; Lockheed Martin; Board of Veterans’ Appeals; and Walmart.

Colonel Michael Endres Leadership Award for Individual Excellence in Veteran Employment, for an individual who has gone above and beyond to make a difference in employment opportunities for veterans, transitioning service members, and spouses: Jim Beamesderfer, Prudential Financial; Danny Chung, Microsoft; Al Hanley, Troops Into Transportation; and Melissa Stirling, Hilton Worldwide.

The winner in each category will be announced during the 9th Annual Lee Anderson Hiring Our Heroes Awards Gala presented by Toyota at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on November 13, 2019. The Hiring Our Heroes Awards Committee will select the winners.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative launched in March 2011 as a nationwide effort to connect veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses with meaningful employment opportunities. Working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vast network of state and local chambers and strategic partners from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, the goal of Hiring Our Heroes is to create a movement across America in hundreds of communities where veterans and military families return every day.

Early on, the organization adopted two strategies: (1) grassroots engagement and (2) public-private partnerships. Through its commitment-based engagement of the business community, more than 1,200 job fairs held across the country and on military installations overseas, and a suite of free online career tools, we’ve worked with our partners to help hundreds of thousands of veterans and military spouses find jobs.

Posted in Press Release, Veterans | Comments Off on U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Announces Finalists for 9th Annual Hiring Our Heroes Awards Recognizing Employers and Individuals that Have Gone Above and Beyond to Hire, Retain, and Empower Our Nation’s Veterans and Military Spouses

Scientists Find a Direct Link Between Individual’s Immune System and Sensitivity to PTSD; Seeking Finding and Volunteers to Further Research Efforts

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019

October 18, 2019: Huntsville, AL: Little Orange Fish, a 501(c)(3) non-profit committed to furthering community mental health, announced the launch of its Inner Defense Research Initiative, which is a collaborative effort aimed at identifying markers in the immune system that indicate and possibly predict sensitivity to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). This initiative, a collaboration including iXpressGenes Inc., Paragon Research Corporation, the University of Alabama at Huntsville and individual contributors is based on a breakthrough study reporting a strong correlation between the immune system and stress affliction. The analysis, which is based on a simple blood draw, might guide clinical approaches to PTSD diagnosis and treatment, possibly bringing a revolutionary solution to a crippling problem for many people.

The Inner Defense Research Initiative focuses on developing the diagnostic screen to inform solutions for prevention and treatment, to provide education and outreach and to influence policy change.

For Dr. Joe Ng, founder, and president of iXpressGenes, this mission is personal. Having survived the mass shooting at UAH in 2011, this research was born from the struggles and firsthand observations of the carnage- caused traumatic stress. “In honor of those who did not survive and those who did, but suffer terribly,” Dr. Ng said, “I want to find a path to resiliency. The immune system might be that path.”

Dr. Ng’s company, iXpressGenes, (iXG) is a synthetic biology company located at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, specializing in solutions based on molecular protein structures. iXG has conducted preliminary studies of T-cell receptor transcriptome sequences that offer an unprecedented analysis of linking an immune repertoire to sensitivity or resilience to PTSD, demonstrating that certain immune conditions are more common in people with PTSD. This knowledge opens up a wealth of preventative measures one can take as well as directed treatment options for long-term health.

“Approaching PTSD from the perspective of the immune system changes everything,” said Peggy Sammon, Director, iXG. “The neural-immune axis brings a new set of tools to those who are seeking solutions for PTSD and other debilitating stress conditions.”

While the preliminary findings are encouraging and provide strong support for the proposed study; the next step is to expand the size of their participant pool and validate the findings in a bigger study. The goal is to collect immune repertoire data for a thousand or more soldiers and first responders who have been exposed to trauma to help establish a secure and intelligent database for analyses and data mining in the search for predictive markers. Once the markers have been identified and verified, intervention strategies can be recommended. The team is seeking funding to perform a larger study.

“There is such promise in the science we’ve seen,” John Schmitt, Iraq war veteran and collaborating microbiologist added, “we have built a powerful team of technical experts and innovators in the field, but we will need the support from the wider community to accelerate this work and really make a difference in lives.”

To learn more about the Inner Defense Research Initiative, participate in the study or to donate, please visit www.innerdefense.org.

Posted in Charity, Medical, Press Release, Veterans | 4 Comments »

Free Tool Boxes For Veterans

Sunday, October 6th, 2019

We’ve got a lot of veterans in my family. Not only is my father a veteran, but he’s also a retired Air Force maintenance guy. He recently ran across an announcement for “free tool boxes for veterans” and suggested that I share it with my readership. I thought it was a good idea, so here it is?:

REAch program has shipped more than 8,000 toolboxes to Veterans

In 1994, U.S. Army Air Corps WWII Veteran and former POW Clarence Robert “Bud” Shepherd opened a small warehouse in Burlington, North Carolina, to assist 501 (c) (3) non-profit organizations, like schools, churches and daycares.

Shepherd refocused his attention on Post-9/11 combat wounded Veterans in 2012 by creating the Veteran Toolbox Program. He provided them with free toolboxes to assist with their transition into civilian life. Although Post-9/11 Purple Heart Veterans are priority for the program, all Veterans can apply.

“I always wanted to do something for Veterans, and I came up with the toolbox program,” said Shepherd. “We talked to some tool companies, and they were interested in getting involved. We talked to Stanley and Black and Decker about what we wanted to do and they came back with one word – absolutely! APEX tools, Wooster paint brushes, and Johnson & Johnson are also great supporters.”

The REAch Veteran Toolbox Program has shipped more than 8,000 toolboxes to Veterans, which contains about $600 worth of tools.

“This is the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done in my lifetime,” said the 94-year-old.

Shepherd works six days a week, gets up at 5 a.m., and leaves work at 6 p.m. most days. But he’s no stranger to hard work.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943, when he was 18 years old. He served in the 8th Air Force in England as a tail-gunner on a B-17. Enemy forces shot down his plane six months before the end of WWII. Shepherd was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp near Berth, Germany.

“Once we got settled down, things went along fairly smooth because there was 9,000 of us, all Air Force people,” Shepherd recalled. “About 7,500 Americans and a few Brits. We were liberated by the Russians and I made my way back home.”

“We hear from a lot of these guys and their families,” Shepherd said. “Last week we got an e-mail saying ‘You saved my husband’s life. He hasn’t been out of the house in three months but ever since he got his toolbox he’s been out in the garage or the backyard working on something.’”

REAch operates in Graham, North Carolina, but ships the toolboxes across the country.

“I go to the VA hospital in Durham, North Carolina, for yearly physicals, but my health is excellent,” he said. “These people down there that I deal with at the VA hospital, they are just good people… In my lifetime, I’ve been blessed, and I enjoy every minute of it.

Learn more about the Veteran Toolbox Program at: reainc.org

This article was written by Tim Hudak and published via blogs.va.gov.

Author Tim Hudak joined the VA in December 2013 and is on the Veterans Experience Office team. Tim, a Chicago-land native enlisted in the Marine Corps straight out of high school. As an intelligence analyst he deployed to Al Anbar province, Iraq with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363 in 2006 and 2008. After the Marine Corps, Tim used the GI Bill to earn a degree in Intelligence Studies from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., and co-founded the university’s first student Veteran organization. Tim is active in many Veteran organizations.

Posted in Guest Post, Veterans | 3 Comments »

Special Operations Care Fund (SOC-F) and Tomahawk Charitable Solutions to Support Leader in Neurotherapeutics to Provide Breakthrough Treatment Technology for Special Operations Veterans

Thursday, September 5th, 2019

SAN DIEGO, CA, September 5, 2019 – Special Operations Care Fund (SOC-F), Tomahawk Charitable Solutions (TCS), and Brain Treatment Center San Diego (BTC San Diego) are pleased to announce their collaboration for BTC San Diego to offer an innovative and promising treatment modality for special operations military service members for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post-traumatic Stress (PTS).

The dynamic collaboration between SOC-F, TCS, and BTC San Diego offers a unique opportunity for service members struggling with symptoms such as lack of focus, chronic sleep disruption, and cognitive fog. Over the next 18 months, this collaboration will facilitate treatment by BTC San Diego of Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans. SOC-F and TCS will bring valuable resources to support BTC San Diego’s pioneering work with the military community, and they are excited for the transformative opportunities the collaboration will bring to those who served.

Over the past six years, BTC San Diego has used Magnetic EEG/EKG-guided Resonance Therapy (MeRTSM) to help military service members and is conducting clinical trials with the Department of Defense and US Special Operations Command. MeRTSM is a patented process that uses computational neuroanalytics to build a personalized treatment protocol aimed at restoring each individuals neurological health. This process takes approximately 30 minutes per day over a 4-6 week period. MeRTSM was developed by Wave Neuroscience (Wave Neuro) – a leader in the non-invasive neuromodulation space.

Here is what service members who have completed MeRT at Brain Treatment Center say about the treatment:

SOF, USMC Veteran:

“Within 4 days of being treated, I was sleeping through the night. My anger had subsided significantly, and I was smiling and enjoying things again. I was able to focus and concentrate on information much more efficiently and easily, and did not get lost in conversation as I had prior to coming here. My chronic headaches had ceased, my balance was returning, and my ringing in my ears, (tinnitus) had also ceased.”

SOF, US Navy Veteran:

“Besides offering the most effective treatment I’ve experienced, the BTC and MeRT promise to accelerate results that might take months or years through traditional treatments. I feel like BTC reintroduced me to the person I can be, and put me back in control.”

SOF, US Army Veteran:

“After my 6th treatment, I slept 8 hours straight, I usually averaged 3-5 hours max. In the morning it felt like a light bulb turned on in my head… clarity of thought that I haven’t experienced in years.”

To make a donation in support of service members in need, please visit or www.soc-f.org (EIN: 46-3326489) or www.tomahawkcharitablesolutions.org (EIN: 82-1606687).

For inquires on becoming a participant, please visit www.braintreatmentcenter.com/SOF

Posted in Charity, Fundraising, Press Release, Veterans | 1 Comment »

“Dewey The Puppy” Book Raises Money For SpikeS K9 Fund

Sunday, August 25th, 2019

Several Hampton Roads groups have come together to raise funds for Spikes K9 Fund.

Navy SEAL Jimmy Hatch created the Spikes K9 fund to care for K9s. This 501c3 Tax-Exempt Organization focuses on the training, care and preservation of working dogs. They have donated ballistic vests for dogs to various police departments, provided veterinary care to some and additional training to others.

Jimmy Hatch wrote the “Dewey The Puppy” Book in collaboration with Joe Nobody, Tattoo artist to Naval Special Warfare, and principal of Tribe Sk8tz. Proceeds will go to Spike K9 Fund.

The story follows puppy Dewey as he learns about the life of Argo, a working dog.

Joe Nobody’s Artistic Development Group, can be found on Instagram.

To get your copy, visit spikes-k9-fund.myshopify.com/collections/front-page-new-products/products/dewey-the-puppy-book.

Posted in Fundraising, K9, Veterans | Comments Off on “Dewey The Puppy” Book Raises Money For SpikeS K9 Fund

SIG SAUER Raises a Record-Setting $70,000 for the Honored American Veterans Afield Organization at Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Friday, August 23rd, 2019

NEWINGTON, N.H., (August 19, 2019) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to announce the 4th Annual 2019 SIG SAUER Charity Golf Tournament raised $70,000 for the Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) organization held August 9, 2019 at Pease Golf Course in Newington, New Hampshire. In 2019 this annual event expanded to 192 golfers that contributed to the near doubling of the monies raised for the HAVA organization.

“For over a decade, the HAVA organization has been re-integrating disabled veterans and injured military into American life through outdoor activities and the shooting sports,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc. “For everyone at SIG SAUER it’s an honor to support this meaningful program, and contribute to continuing the services provided by HAVA that are making a difference in the lives of the men and women that fought to protect our freedoms.”

HAVA is a 501(c)3 organization founded in 2007 by a group of executives from the hunting and shooting industry to help disabled veterans and injured active-duty military returning from war heal, and reintegrate back into everyday life through participation in outdoor activities. HAVA sponsors guided hunts, shooting events, and outdoor activities across the country hosting hundreds of veterans annually.

SIG SAUER is a longstanding supporter and sustaining sponsor of the HAVA organization. Annually, SIG SAUER participates in HAVA sponsored shooting and hunting events across the country benefiting hundreds of veterans, including the upcoming 7th Annual Rock Castle Family Day on September 14, 2019 at Rockcastle Shooting Sports Center in Park City, Kentucky.

To learn more about the HAVA organization visit honoredveterans.org

Posted in Advertiser, Fundraising, Press Release, Veterans | Comments Off on SIG SAUER Raises a Record-Setting $70,000 for the Honored American Veterans Afield Organization at Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Eighth Order Kickstarter Campaign Reminder

Friday, August 23rd, 2019

This is a reminder about fellow Veterans’, William Romes and Tom Kerr, new company Eighth Order, Inc as well as their Kickstarter capaign.

Eighth Order is a foray into Veteran advocacy by the two with the expressed intent of Veterans helping other Veterans tell their stories. After nearly two decades at war, American Veterans are suffering in staggering numbers, with far too many homeless on the street, self-medicating, and taking their own lives. Post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries are far too real and far too prevalent to sit idly by and not do anything.

With stacks of uniforms in our closets and an idea in our minds eye, we’ve set to doing something…anything…that can help other American Veterans.

As I stare at the stacks of utility uniforms in my closet, I remember thinking, “It’s going to be a shame to throw these out. There’s a lot of money spent, and hard work put into those.” Then I thought… “…and a lot of memories too…” With that I thought there had to be a way to re-purpose those uniforms. I remembered seeing the Eagles and Angles products posted on SSD and I thought I may be able to do something similar, but unlike what they’re working on. I thought those guys were doing awesome things and didn’t just want to “me too” something. However, their message is strong, and it resonated with me. Veterans telling their stories is a powerful thing, and not just for people to hear and celebrate, but also because talking about things helps them heal, even if just for a moment. With that in mind, I called the first person I could think of who would tell me to “knock it off, you’re an idiot”. To my surprise, Tom told me to do it, do something, do something about it…and that he wanted to be involved.

We have been working through the back end of this business since January and it is time to get moving. The product offerings will be a range of casual oxford style shirts with the inside of the cuffs, button line, and inside of the collar fitted with pieces of the donated utility uniforms. The uniforms are donated by American Veterans, along with as much or as little of their story they care to share. Those uniforms and stories will travel together to our factory in California. When a product ships, they will go with a card that discusses where that uniform has been and the things it’s seen. The goal, once this initiative gets off the ground is that a percentage of each sale will go to a Veteran non-profit organization focused on PTSD/TBI treatment and rehabilitation programs. With regards to transparency, I have spoken with a number of these types of organizations and to a company have told me to hold on that portion first off. They tell me that I should make sure the business is moving properly before committing funds to their organizations. One gentleman told me that nobody gets help if your company fails because it can’t pay its bills…ease into it.

Our initial offering is being launched on Kickstarter, with possibly a second product on that platform, to get things moving and funded. We anticipate offering several casual oxford style shirts as we walk this path, as well as a couple variations of blazers.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/eighthorder/eighth-order-cotton-oxford-shirts-from-american-veterans

Our initial samplings are based on standard S-XXL shirt sizing. These shirts are made with 100% American cotton, meant to be worn untucked or tucked in and/or with a tie. When we roll out our blazers, they will be simple construction casual wear 4 way stretch Tweave or a similar textile. These products will be made exclusively of American textiles, in America, by Americans employed by American companies.

Thank you for taking the time to understand and we look forward to your support.

By: William Romes

Posted in Clothing, Press Release, Veterans | 4 Comments »

Ronin Fire Print

Tuesday, August 20th, 2019

Offered by Ronin Tactics, the Ronin “Fire” print is by artist Marc Lee. Each is signed and the print number will be marked by Tu Lam and the artist.

History-In the teachings of “Fire” from “The Book of Five Rings, 1645” -Miyamoto Musashi explains the art of fighting as fire. As a former Green Beret, I have studied the physical movements of combat and had employed these movements during my time in war. Now as a Ronin, I seek for deeper understanding of the mind. During this process of understanding, I’ve reached out to the writings of past warriors for deeper understanding in the world and in myself. Now as a Ronin and a teacher to many, I find my connection as a human being with others seeking to improve themselves in life and during this process, I found deeper meaning within myself and my connection with the Heavens. “I belong to the warrior in whom the old ways have joined the new.”

Get yours at www.ronintactics.com.

Posted in Veterans | 4 Comments »