News Release from Help Heal Veterans:
Partnership Strives to Heal Invisible Wounds of War for Minnesota Vets WINCHESTER, Calif. (Jan.26, 2017) – Help Heal Veterans (Heal Vets), the nation’s largest provider of free therapeutic arts and craft kits to U.S. veterans and active-duty military personnel, is partnering with Eagle’s Healing Nest, a place for veterans to heal with honor, created by veterans, military members and families with strong support from the community. Through the partnership, the Eagle’s Healing Nest will distribute craft kits that will be used as therapy to help veterans suffering from mental and physical disabilities.
Eagle’s Healing Nest, a residential veteran’s campus in Sauk Centre, Minn., was opened in 2012 by Melony Butler, a mother of a veteran who returned from Iraq plagued by PTSD and depression that pushed him to the edge of suicide. His struggle moved Butler to create a space for veterans to look after their own. The Nest is a refuge where former service members of any era can live for as long as they wish while searching for purpose and peace.
“Each year, 20 veterans a day, or about 7,000 veterans a year, die by suicide,” said Butler. “My goal is to bring that number down to zero. But that won’t happen until we get our veterans the help they need so badly.”
“At Eagle’s Healing Nest, we want to heal the invisible wounds of war,” she said. “We’ve seen first-hand the healing power of art, and now we are able to deliver craft therapy to hundreds of our vets, thanks to this partnership with Heal Vets.”
For more than 40 years, Heal Vets, a nonprofit organization founded during the Vietnam War, has supplied arts and crafts kits free of charge to injured servicemen and women and U.S. veterans. The kits often become a part of the patient’s treatment plan, giving them a creative outlet along with tangible therapeutic and rehabilitation benefits. The kits improve fine motor skills, cognitive functioning, memory, anger issues and dexterity.
“The Eagle’s Healing Nest provides much needed help for veterans, help that they may not be able to find elsewhere,” said Captain Joe McClain, Help Heal Veterans Chief Executive Officer. “This partnership will help us provide medicine that doesn’t come in a bottle to the Nest’s vets to support their recovery and rehabilitation.”
“The Eagle’s Healing Nest provides much needed help for veterans, help that they may not be able to find elsewhere,” -Captain Joe McClain
Since 1971, Help Heal Veterans has provided more than 29 million therapeutic arts and crafts kits free of charge to injured servicemen and women and U.S. veterans. For more information about the extensive Heal Vets arts and crafts program, visit HealVets.org, or call 888-567-VETS (8387).Download PDF of Release