"Growing Veterans" is a veterans group with a different approach. From its website:
Our Mission:
To empower military veterans to grow food, communities, and each other.
We combine veteran reintegration with sustainable agriculture- creating a holistic solution to fighting the multitude of issues the veteran population faces and simultaneously empowering our fellow vets to strengthen the incredibly important sustainable agriculture movement.
Acknowledging the many issues that veterans face: unemployment, homelessness, suicide, divorce and depression – we believe that in most cases the root cause of these issues is isolation. Isolated from the peers they served with, from family and friends, from the community as a whole, it can be difficult for a veteran to remain resilient and get the proper support they need. Growing Veterans provides a place where veterans can get together in support of a positive and worthy cause, allowing them to experience an informal peer-support setting, while also encouraging them to use skills gained in the military or school to support the broader community.
While working in the fields we talk about our wartime experience, issues we’re having gaining access to the VA, struggles we face in school using the GI Bill, suicide, politics, medications… we even laugh and poke fun at each other, sometimes ruthlessly, because that’s what camaraderie is all about. After all, most of us are vets.
Not far from Mt. Baker and the San Juan Islands, our Main Farm serves as the cornerstone for all things Growing Veterans. Using our farm as the platform, we engage local veterans and community members- bridging the gap and providing an example of the amazing things we can accomplish when we work together.
At the beginning of 2014 we began piloting an innovative Outpost concept. By partnering with sustainable agriculture groups that are already doing great work in other areas, we are able to harness local veteran leadership and recreate the same type of opportunities for vets and community members that we provide on our Main Farm. Led primarily by volunteer leadership, our Outpost partners host Growing Veterans so we can use their site as a platform to engage local veterans and community volunteers and help strengthen their operations through our organizing leadership and volunteerism. Through this model, Growing Veterans is able to help strengthen local, sustainable agriculture and in turn, strengthen local economies. Look for these Outposts next season:
- 21 Acres- King County
- Seattle Tilth- King County
- Good GRuB- Thurston County
- Conversations being had with a few more!
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