McCormick Foundation
McCormick Foundation, Major League Baseball Announce $2.6 Million in Additional Grants for “Welcome Back Veterans”
By: Kristin Kiss
The McCormick Foundation’s Board of Directors has approved $2.6 million in 2009 grants as part of Welcome Back Veterans, a national public awareness and fundraising initiative to address the mental health and employment needs of America’s veterans and their families. This brings the total amount awarded through Welcome Back Veterans to more than $5.5 million. A complete record of 2009 grants awarded is provided below.
Welcome Back Veterans has raised more than $4.5 million as of April 2009. An additional $2.2 million in matching funds has been provided by the McCormick Foundation (first $4 million raised matched at 50 cents on the dollar). With all administrative costs paid by Major League Baseball and the McCormick Foundation, more than $5.5 million has been distributed over the past year to 24 nonprofit agencies targeting veterans’ greatest needs.
The goal of Welcome Back Veterans is to raise public awareness of, and financial support for, the mental health and employment challenges faced by OIF/OEF veterans and their families. These 2009 grants were based upon the recommendations of a steering committee consisting of New York Mets Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Fred Wilpon, and representatives from Major League Baseball and the McCormick Foundation.
Comments
I am a retired army instructor and Gulf War Veteran. I hold a Masters degree in cognitive education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. I have been teaching students with serious emotional and behavior disorders for ten years, in my second year I earned the Colorado Troops to Teacher of the Year Award. Last Spring I conducted an individual study on the emotional and behavioral symptoms that my students displayed and the emotional and behavioral symptoms displayed by our returning combat veterans. The results were astounding: children who experience trauma suffer three times as much as a Vietnam Veteran, because the emotional section (limbic system) of their undeveloped brains are affected. So with this finding I resigned as a teacher and set-out to start a business that will teach/train combat veterans and their families in developing life long coping skills to eliminate the physical,social, and emotional effects of combat stress. I am a living witness of the power of cognitive education and the ability of the Human Brain to reform itself (neuroplasticity)based on the moment-to-moment awareness of our thinking. I am asking for financial support in making my vision a reality for our returning warriors, and their families.