Volunteers Needed for Operation Rebound
Michael D. Boll, Director
New Jersey Veterans Network
For the last few years the New Jersey Veterans Network and its mobile outreach team has been aggressively seeking out veterans in need and providing them resources to have a better way of life. This is only possible because of our volunteers’ commitment and dedication with helping our veteran community. Donations are wonderful and help us purchase food, clothing, medical equipment and other life changing items, however someone’s time is what makes an enormous difference.
During our charity’s existence, we have provided meals for thousands of veterans and servicemen, dropped off PPE and clothing to veterans, provided medical equipment for disabled veterans, had 30 cars donated to disabled veterans, and most importantly we successfully saved the lives of veterans who were in some type of a dangerous crisis.
Every day we lose approximately 22 veterans to suicide and unfortunately this number hasn’t changed over the years. Depression, PTSD and trauma run extremely high among our veterans and their family members. There are countless lifesaving programs out there for veterans, however it’s a difficult task to get veterans to trust others and go get the help they need to live a better life.
The New Jersey Veterans Network also has a program called Operation Rebound that consists of a mobile outreach team that helps to train veterans for events like races, hiking, and other athletic activities. The goal of Operation Rebound is to do athletic events from 5k races to long distance Iron Man competitions in order to empower the veterans and show the public how people can do amazing things with the proper support. It is truly incredible to see the veterans go from no physical activity to completing these tremendous athletic challenges.
Our charity has been able to work alongside other amazing charities that always put veterans first and are capable of rapidly providing them with essential resources. Recently, we formed a veteran anti-suicide and PTSD awareness coalition, called Uniformed Heroes, that will provide peer support sponsors for any veteran in need. Our peer support sponsors will be trained by the VA and Penn Med and our goal is to have volunteers statewide to help veterans in need.
To make this upcoming Uniformed Heroes campaign successful, we are in desperate need of volunteers from both the veteran and civilian communities. There are numerous events and daily tasks that our charity could use assistance with and we are always looking to have more volunteers willing to help us reach veterans in need.
Our goal is to provide all veterans in need with a peer support sponsor that will do whatever they can to help veterans with obtaining the resources needed to live a better life. This is not an easy thing to do, but the New Jersey Veterans Network has already been able to make a huge difference because of the team’s volunteers and its strong partnerships with other charities.
If you are interested in joining the team, please send us an email at NJVN1775@gmail.com and provide your name, email, and phone number. Also, if you have any questions, and concerns please feel free to contact us at 973-332-1556.
