t&f gives back.

i have the honor of working at an amazing nonprofit called the mission continues. our goal is to ensure every veteran returning from iraq & afghanistan has an opportunity to serve again. we do fellowships for wounded veterans to help them find their purpose here at home. over 2.2 million men and women have served in iraq and afghanistan -- over 50,000 have been physically wounded and hundreds of thousands more have sustained serious mental health injuries -- including post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. these are AMAZING men and women, who have an incrdedible ethic of service, and so much left to give.

much or our reaction to wounded veterans labels them clearly as charity cases -- out of a good place, we want to give them baseball tickets, or passes to disney world, but those are temporary acts of gratitude that go away -- our work tells us the lasting gift is to offer them a chance to serve again. as one veteran told us, "we're not charity cases, we're an American asset." these veterans understand the needs in their community and have the skills to serve again -- they want to mentor at risk youth, be on call for disaster relief, build homes with habitat for humanity, train guide dogs for other disabled Americans -- and when they have a chance to serve again, the veterans have better, stronger transitions home. if you want to see what this looks like in the life of one veteran and be totally inspired, take two minutes and watch this video on our Fellow, Anthony Smith.

this christmas, as you consider giving, i'd be so honored if you considered making a donation to the mission continues. to make it a little more fun, we're doing a little campaign called tulips & flightsuits give back so we can track how this little blog makes an impact in the lives of this generation of veterans! all you have to do is go here, scroll to the bottom, and click make a donation! there's also info on how to mail a check. as you know, i don't have ads on t&f and do this because i love it (almost 500 posts this year!) -- if you've loved swinging by here, it would mean so much if you made a donation to the mission continues.

on a personal note, i love leading strategy for the mission continues because i'm passionate about this cause, but like a lot of you, this hits really close to home. my husband is active duty military -- this generation of veterans is not an abstract concept, they eat dinner at my table, stood by us on our wedding day & i am motivated every day in large part, because God forbid something were to happen to ryan and he came home wounded, i don't want someone to hand him tickets to a football game, i want people to ask him to serve again. flying helicopters isn't all he has to give this great country.

you guys are the best. xo

p.s. how cute is this new logo my friend designed?! (she's a navy wife too!!)

Comments

[Kelly]

Love this idea! Thank you for sharing and the information.

[Danielle]

Thank you for sharing the information. There are so many amazing causes I need to keep in mind this holiday season.

Also, I ADORE the new logo :).

[Jenny White]

Love the Mission Continues. Thank you for being a part of something so often overlooked by us. And LOVE the new logo. Amazing.