Can you meet the 2011 Veterans Day Challenge?

If you follow our blogs here at the Attig Law Firm, you'll notice that we don't post a blog on Veterans Day.  With the flood of "thank-you-for-your-service" emails and blogs and parades (and, apparently, free wings for Veterans at Hooters), our message would just be lost in the flood. So I'm posting this blog entry the day after Veterans Day in the hopes more of you will read it, and act on it. I'm going to ask each of you that read it to commit to doing each of these things for Veterans in the next 90 days.  Let’s call it the “2011 Veterans Day Challenge”. Once you complete the 2011 Veteran’s Day Challenge, if you’d like, email me at [email protected] .  We’re on the honor system around here, so all you have to tell me is “I completed the 2011 Veterans Day Challenge”, and I’ll post your first name, last initial, and city/state below. The ideas I'm going to suggest here require a bit of "pain" on your part - but if you can do one of these things, you might help 1, 5, 10 or more Veterans who put their life on the line so that you didn't have to go and fight.  And you just might feel better than if you just went to a parade or merely said "Thanks". If you're a Veteran, you made the same sacrifice we all did - you put your life on the line, you put your country and your principles ahead of all else. But as we who served all know - the wars are never over.   As the Ranger Creed tells us - "I will never leave a fallen comrade..."  Find a fallen comrade, and do something to help them back up on their feet. 1) CONTRIBUTE TO THE DALLAS VETERANS COURT. The Dallas Veterans Court is the project of Judge Michael Snipes, himself a Veteran (Retired Army Colonel). He set up and runs a court for combat veterans that are charged with certain non-violent, non-sexual felonies.  The Court's Program helps these Veterans get back on their feet and out of prison.  Veterans get job counseling, access to psychiatric assistance where needed, and much much more - successful completion of the program leads to dismissal of the criminal charges.  Read this article in the Dallas Morning News about the Dallas Veterans Court. With 50,000 Iraqi and Afghanistan Combat Veterans expected to be discharged in the next 3 years (many of whom are victims of severe PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from almost 11 years of sustained, daily, combat with the enemy). With the high rate of homelessness and joblessness among our Iraqi and Afghanistan Combat Vets, programs like the Dallas Veterans Court are going to prove essential to acclimating our returning Veterans in the months and years ahead. But this court needs money to run - its not funded by the State or County or Federal Government.   Make a donation to the address below. Give whatever you can - $10, $25, $50, $100 - it all helps pay for supplies and other needed resources at the Court. If the freedom we have in America - financed with the blood of our Soldiers, our Veterans and their families -  has helped you to become a successful businessperson or community leader, or just have a better life, please repay some of that debt with a larger gift of $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000. If you would like to consider adding a gift to the Veterans Court to your will, please email me at [email protected] and I would be glad to help you make this happen. Here is the address where you can mail your check: Make Check Payable to: Dallas County Veteran Court Write, in Memo Section: "To be used at Discretion of Judge Snipes" Send Check to: Dallas Veterans Court ATTN: Ms. Tamayra Stell, Asst. Supervisor Dallas County Adult Probation 133 N. Riverfront Blvd, 9th Floor Dallas, Texas 75207 2) HELP  A HOMELESS VETERAN. [CAVEAT: I encourage you to do this activity with a friend or co-worker - don’t do this sort of thing alone. ] So many of our Combat Veterans are homeless.  In fact, the highest percentage of homeless veterans are between the ages of 18 and 30.  These are our Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans - abandoned, without access to a warm meal or a roof over their head. Take the day off from work - bring a friend or co-worker - go into your city's downtown, and buy a warm meal for a homeless veteran.  Sit down with the Veteran and listen to his or her story.   Be thankful that you didn’t have to pay the price that this soldier did. Or - better still - buy 10 thick heavy blankets and hand them out to homeless Veterans on a cold night.  Help a homeless Veteran shop for a warm sleeping bag - and buy it for him or her. Give a homeless Veteran $20 in cash - sure, maybe he'll buy beer or smokes, but you might also have helped him or her pay for a warm bed for the night. 3) SPEND ONE HOUR ON THANKSGIVING OR CHRISTMAS WITH A WOUNDED VETERAN. Many of your nations Veterans spend their holidays in the hospital.  There are also a great number of Veterans that spend their holidays in the hospital, alone.  Their families and friends have passed away, their caretakers have abandoned them out of sheer exhaustion, they are in long-term care situations far from their home, and any number of reasons. Many of these Veterans served in World War II.   While politicians sing their praises, these men and women spend their holidays alone. Every VA Medical Center has a list of Veterans that spend the holidays alone.  Contact your local VA Medical Center and tell them you’d like to spend an Hour with a Veteran on Thanksgiving or Christmas - better yet, volunteer to come down to  the VA Medical Center and help in any way you can. Contact your local VA Medical Center, and ask to talk to the Volunteer Coordinator.

http://www.volunteer.va.gov/apps/VolunteerNow/

If you try to do this, and can’t get in touch with the right people at the VA Medical Center, e-mail me at [email protected] and I will help you find the right people to talk to. 4) GIVE ONE DAY’S SALARY TO A VETERAN’S CAUSE. We are all struggling in this economy.  Sometimes it seems that one-day's pay is a lot to sacrifice - and you're right, it is.  A life, a limb, a family - these things too, are a big sacrifice. If given the choice between giving our life and giving one-day's salary in support of our freedom and way of life, most of us would give one day's salary. Let's follow through on that this year. Pick up a calendar, choose one day in the next year, and call it your own “Give Away My Salary Day”.  Between now and then, research a Veteran’s cause or organization that you feel strongly about. Once you have found one you liked, give one-day’s salary to them -  put it directly into the hands of those who need help. My "Give Away My Salary Day" is December 15th.  What’s yours? 5) ASK FIVE (5) PEOPLE TO COMMIT TO THE 2011 Veteran's Day Challenge. Here are some different ways you can do this: - Go on Twitter, and Tweet about the #2011VeteransDayChallenge - provide a link to this Blog Entry.  To help you out, here is the TinyURL to this page:  http://tinyurl.com/7mpbfc4 In fact, I'm going to make it easy for you:  Here's a Tweet you can cut and paste: Can you meet the #2011VeteransDay Challenge ?  http://tinyurl.com/7mpbfc4 - Go on Facebook, and ask your friends, family, co-workers and colleagues to join the 2011 Veterans Day Challenge - post a link to this blog entry. Again, here's the TinyURL link to this page: http://tinyurl.com/7mpbfc4 - Talk to your friends at work, church, and school - Send an email to everyone in your address book.  It's not as funny as that photo of Kermit the Frog getting his X-ray results, but I bet some of your friends and family will appreciate the link. - This is my personal favorite:  If you see a bumper-sticker that says "Support Our  Veterans", or a car with the Yellow Ribbon sticker on it, ask the driver to commit to the 2011 Veteran's Day Challenge.  Tell him or her how to find this blog.   (Don't assume these folks are the families of soldiers or Veterans - less than half are. A lot of times, these are just stickers left on the car from when it was sold or traded in.) Once you complete the 2011 Veteran’s Day Challenge, if you’d like, email me at [email protected] . We’re on the honor system around here, so all you have to tell me is “I completed the 2011 Veterans Day Challenge”, and I’ll post your first name, last initial, and city/state below. Let’s see how many folks we can get to do this by next Veteran’s Day.