Salute to Veteran (S2V) Secretary Holli Pfau, center, gathers with other board members at the Colorado Workforce office to discuss a series of focus groups planned for June. The newly formed nonprofit group seeks to “honor and assist” local veterans returning home and is seeking input from the community on how to orchestrate these services./Photo by Steve Eginoire

Call to Arms

New nonprofit seeks help in supporting local veterans

by Jen Reeder

When he was growing up, Durango resident Karl Ingram admired a family friend serving in the military – he decided he also wanted to lead soldiers and help protect his country. So he attended college on a ROTC scholarship and then joined the Army, where he was commissioned as an officer and deployed to Afghanistan. His squadron saw almost constant combat.

“I felt this strong sense of duty to try and protect my people, do whatever I could when they got into a hairy situation outside the wire (off the base) … making sure I could bring back as many as possible,” Ingram said.

A new local nonprofit organization called Salute to Veterans (S2V) aims to welcome home and support veterans like Ingram, who returned to civilian life in October 2012. Modeled after Welcome Home Montrose, the group has the mission “to honor and assist our veterans, military personnel and their families.” Plans include providing a comprehensive list of resources for veterans, a sticker identifying local businesses that offer military discounts, and a meeting space for veterans slated to open on Veterans Day.

To garner community input for the project, S2V board members will host a series of focus groups in June. Dates, locations and discussion topics will be announced at a patriotic kickoff event Mon., May 12, at the Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall at 6 p.m. The free event will feature appearances by The Bar D Wranglers; Ret. Gen. Ronald Fogleman (former Air Force Chief of Staff); Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango; and cowboy poet Sam Noble.

“We’re hoping to have a great turnout of veterans and general community members,” said Holli Pfau, secretary for S2V.

Pfau and other board members have been presenting information about S2V to different community groups in Durango over the past several months, emphasizing the theme “small towns doing big things.” She said the focus is on giving back to veterans and making sure they have access to services available to them. “Their quality of life is our bottom line,” she said.

Ron Tyner, president of S2V, has seen the need for the group firsthand as the owner of the nonprofit Therapeutic Experiences, which offers horse-assisted therapy to veterans, including those with traumatic brain injuries. He said sometimes veterans have to contend with injuries as well as issues like unemployment, homelessness and suicidal tendencies when they leave the service, and many people want to help but don’t know how.

“We hear that from a lot of people: ‘Something needs to be done.’ All we’re trying to do is help people to do things,” Tyner said.

He said first steps include participating in any or all of the focus groups, which will include the following topics: faith-based wellness and spiritual needs; building wellness and optimum health; jobs, job training and education; veterans services; physical health services; mental health services; recreation and relaxation; public and private infrastructure; and community stakeholders (local businesses).

“In order to pull this off, we’re going to need a lot of volunteers,” Tyner said.

Jill Coddington, president of the Durango chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America, a nonprofit for families of soldiers deployed overseas, said she thinks S2V is a “fantastic” idea. Her son John is a staff sergeant in the Air Force who has been deployed to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan; he’s currently training military dogs and their handlers at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

“Any support we can show is amazing,” Coddington said. “These guys come back, and it’s not easy. Even if they haven’t been in a combat zone, it’s not easy when they’ve been deployed and they come back and – ‘boom! ‘They’re back in reality, just like that. It’s hard.” 4

She said she plans to frequent businesses with an S2V sticker in their windows showing they offer a discount to active military personnel and veterans.

“Even the smallest amount of a discount shows that they are appreciating these men and women for what they’ve done,” she said. “Even the smallest amount says ‘thank you … for allowing me to live in this country and have the freedoms that I have because of you.’”

Coddington said when she first heard about S2V, she wanted to be sure the group would support – and not in any way disparage – the work of Rich Schleeter, the only La Plata County Veterans Services Officer, something reiterated by S2V board members. Schleeter said he thinks the concept behind S2V “is a good one.”

“It’s entirely possible that it could lead more veterans in my direction to get the help that they need,” Schleeter said.

There are many veterans in the area who stand to benefit from the program. Schleeter said in 2012, there were 4,194 registered veterans in La Plata County.

Don Ferris, an Army veteran who served three tours in the Vietnam War and is S2V’s treasurer, has been involved with supporting other veterans since they returned to a less-than-warm welcome in America. Others didn’t come home at all – he lost a lot of good friends in the war.

“I always felt I was one of the lucky ones,” Ferris said.

He visited wounded veterans in the hospital before getting involved in the National Veterans Foundation and the Elks. Recently Ferris was part of a team of people working to help a veteran who sustained a crushed femur and for a time was homeless in Durango. The vet found a job and a landlord who gave him a discount on his rent because of his service, but then he lost a funding source for vets that would have paid his deposit. Fortunately, he was able to find funds through Volunteers of America’s “Coming Back Home” initiative, and crisis was averted. But the experience demonstrated to Ferris how quickly voucher programs and other veterans services can change.

“One of the things we’re working on with Salute to Veterans is these organizations that have these resources are going to proactively provide us updates on availability of different services,” he said.

Ferris said supporting veterans also helps the community because military training helps veterans go on to excel in structured jobs, such as those as a police officer.

Ultimately, he said the goal is to make Durango friendly and respectful to veterans.

“They’ve done a service for their country, and we want to make sure they know we appreciate that.”

To volunteer with Salute to Veterans, call Ron Tyner at 970-749-0607 or visit www.Salute2Veterans.org. Local veterans can visit the La Plata County Veterans Services Office online at http://co.laplata.co.us/departments_officials/human_ services/veterans_services. For more information on Blue Star Moms, visit www.bluestarmothers.org. Veterans in crisis can call the National Veterans Foundation’s 24-hour Lifeline at 1-888-777-4443.