VetsAid, Joe Walsh's nationally registered 501(c)3 non-profit, announces the disbursement of $160,000 in grants to various community, mid-sized and national veterans services organizations with the monies raised from their 5th annual concert event which streamed online starting on December 18, 2021.
To date, VetsAid has disbursed $2 million dollars to organizations that support veterans and their families. All net proceeds from the 2020 festival will go directly to the below listed charities that have been selected through a vetting process coordinated in tandem with the Combined Arms Institute. While VetsAid has typically focused its annual grant process on the city and region its live festival visits each year, Walsh decided to adjust the search criteria for 2021’s unique virtual festival offering. Charities that focus their efforts on the homeless veteran epidemic received priority consideration.
“VetsAid is proud to support US veterans in need wherever they may find themselves on their journey,” Joe Walsh explains. “and as difficult as it got for all of us this past year, we do what we can to endure because the show must go on.”
The 2021 VetsAid grant recipients are:
1) $25,000 grant: US VETS — Long Beach, Long Beach, CA (usvets.org/locations/long-beach) – U.S.VETS — Long Beach is located at the Villages at Cabrillo, 27 acres of the former Cabrillo/Savannah Naval housing. U.S.VETS — Long Beach offers supportive services including transitional housing, permanent housing, employment and housing services. We also feature the ADVANCE Women’s Program designed specifically for female veterans and their children, the largest woman’s veteran program in the country. The site serves more than 800 veterans daily.
2) $25,000 grant: Veterans Village of San Diego, San Diego, CA (vvsd.net) – Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD) has served all veterans since 1981 and is dedicated to “Leave No One Behind.” For forty years, VVSD has sought to provide services and support to our nation’s heroes. Each year VVSD helps thousands of our most vulnerable veterans to reclaim their lives through programs that offer transitional and permanent housing, mental health counseling, substance use treatment, and employment and training services.
3) $25,000 grant: Combined Arms, Houston, TX (combinedarms.us) – Combined Arms streamlines the connection between veterans and their families from all branches of the military with organizations that serve them. We’ve created a new veteran service model, focusing on collective impact—reinventing what it means to serve veterans by creating pathways for them to access resources based on exactly what they’ve asked for, leaving the outdated model of “services in silos” behind.
4) $25,000 grant: Jericho Project, New York, NY (jerichoproject.org) – Jericho Project empowers individuals and families experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity by providing housing and person-centered services to address social inequities.
5) $25,000 grant: US VETS — Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV (usvets.org/locations/las-vegas) – Las Vegas opened in 2001 and operates two residential facilities and a community support office. The Las Vegas location operates over 330 beds of transitional and permanent housing. Employment services are provided through a workforce program that helps over 110 veterans return to employment each year. Additionally, over 400 veteran households are provided rapid re-housing and homeless prevention services annually.
6) $25,000 grant: Swords to Plowshares, San Francisco, CA (swords-to-plowshares.org) – Since 1974, Swords to Plowshares is dedicated to supporting nearly 3,000 homeless, low-income and at-risk veterans in the Bay Area every year. They offer employment and job training, supportive housing programs, permanent housing placement, counseling and case management, and legal services.
7) $10,000 grant: FOB Hope, Seattle, WA (fobhope.org) — FOB Hope is committed to making sure Veterans stay safe until we can develop a relationship and build trust with the Veteran for the purpose of assisting them with getting into an emergency shelter, transitional housing, or a permanent place to live.
The grants came from the net proceeds of VetsAid 2021: The Basement Show, the December 18, 2021 multi-hour online worldwide broadcast event on Veeps.com of VetsAid archival performances and new studio footage featuring Joe Walsh and band.