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Donation made to support Veterans Resource Center at St. Cloud State University

To honor the mission of Tee It Up for the Troops, an all volunteer organizing committee teamed up with staff from the St Cloud Country Club to host their 3rd annual Tee It Up for the Troops golf benefit in August of 2016!

This event began with an inspirational opening ceremony that pays tribute to our nation, the men and women of our military, and our cherished freedoms. Following the opening ceremony golfers tee’d off for a 18-hole scramble tournament. Following the tournament, golfers and non-golfers enjoyed a cocktail reception and evening dinner program.

It is standard practice to donate 50% of Tee It Up for the Troops event proceeds to local veteran support organizations. In keeping with that tradition, this week several individuals gathered together to present a check in the amount of $14,200 to the SCSU Student Veterans Organization.

The Veterans Resource Center at St. Cloud State University provides a welcoming environment for veterans, current service members and their families. The center provides a one-stop shop for information and resources pertaining to military benefits, including referrals to outside veteran agencies, and provides an ideal space for networking and connecting with other military affiliated students on campus.

You can read more about how this specific donation with benefit the Veterans Resource Center here.

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The individuals in the photo below, from left to right, are as follows: Tom Olson, General Manager of the St. Cloud Country Club; Rollie Carlson, TIUFTT Minnesota Chapter Board Member; Interim President of SCSU, Ashish Vaidya; Vice President of University Advancement, Matt Andrew; and Vice President of Student Life and Development, Wanda Overland.

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“I believe my song gives them a better understanding of what I went through when I was deployed.”

On behalf of all of those who “stepped up to the tee” at our 2016 events, we were able to donate over $1,000,000 to veteran support organizations, including a $20,000 donation to CreatiVets! We are proud to support organizations like Creativets who are making a difference in the lives of our American heroes!

Jeremy Durbin, Executive Director of Creativets, said “Your donation has allowed us to provide songwriting sessions and art programming for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. Through these experiences, participants have learned the benefits of using art and music as a form of stress and anxiety relief. They have also created incredible songs and artwork that have enabled them to tell their stories in a way that creates something beautiful from something tragic.”

“Even though my friends and family do not understand what it was like in Iraq, I believe my song gives them a better understanding of what I went through while deployed.” – Veteran Participant, Songwriting Program 

CreatiVets’ mission is to provide disabled veterans with the opportunity to use art, music and creative writing to address the psychological and emotional needs that arise from service-related trauma.  Our goal is to empower veterans with tools they can use for the rest of their lives to combat stress, depression and other side effects of war.

“It’s hard to express in words how I felt after that experience, but I know I let go of something deep and feel that this experience is going to allow me to maintain that positive attitude while giving me the courage to live a meaningful life with my children. ” – Veteran Participant, Art Program

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K9s save veterans, making them functional citizens…

K9s save veterans

We love this letter we received from K9s For Warriors regarding the use of the grant awarded to them by Tee It Up for the Troops!

Dear Mr. Wegscheld & Tee It Up for the Troops,

Thank you so much for your recent grant award. Your grant will help with the continued equipment and building costs of the second kennel, which officially opened in September, 2016. Having this additional kennel vastly increases our service dog training capability, adding 31 new stalls to our campus. Once filled, we will be able to speed up the rate at which we pair warriors and canines, saving the lives of dogs and veterans faster.

K9s save veteransCurrently, we accommodate 6-8 warriors per class. Our goal for 2017 is to increase class sizes to 10 members, as we try our hardest to fight against the suicide epidemic of post-9/11 heroes. The additional kennel is key to meeting this goal. It allows us to have more dogs available and ready to pair with the warriors who need them most. In 2016, we graduated 72 warrior-canine teams! That indicates a total of 144 lives saved last year, counting just graduates. However, our statistics are even better than that, because we saved a total of 190 dogs! Those that weren’t evaluated as good fits for service work were adopted into homes of eager, dedicated dog lovers.

We are fortunate to hear many touching testimonies from the veterans who get “a new leash on life” from our program. Brad was a member of our November, 2016 class along with his service dog, Bear. We have included his photo as an attachment to this update. Here is his quote describing his newfound hope:

K9s save veterans“I tried everything under the sun, from medications to neurological treatments. After going through K9s’ program, I now have peace of mind that my future will be better than my past. K9s saves veterans, making them functional citizens, with the help of an animal that would’ve most likely been euthanized. I now have hope for my life.” – Brad & Bear, November 2016 graduates.

Thank you again for your generosity. We look forward to continuing this partnership to help our military veterans reintegrate into society.
Sincerely,
Rory Diamond,
CEO, K9s For Warriors

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We love supporting veteran service organizations that provide service dogs for veterans!

Tee It Up for the Troops is proud to support many wonderful veteran service organizations throughout the United States including those that provide service dogs for veterans.

The influence service dogs have in the daily life of veterans cannot be overstated as was shared recently by one Trauma Assistance Dog recipient:

“Many combat veterans don’t come home the same person they were when they left here to fight for our country. We leave part of ourselves in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan. My dog has given me a lot of my life back. We are always together and are best friends. I have been able to enjoy going out with my family and not have to worry about anything else around. [My dog] has given me hope that I thought was lost.”Jonathan-300x252

Drew and Bogey 2

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Slumberland chooses to partner with Tee It Up for the Troops to show their support of America’s veterans and their families!

“We are so proud to be associated with Tee It Up for the Troops, and look forward to introducing our customer base to your organization. We have heard a lot of positive feedback from our sales associates and other employees about our support for Tee It Up for the Troops as we enter the opening weekend of our Veterans Sale event.”

-Margaret Eggenberger, Content Manager – Marketing at Slumberland Furniture

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“On behalf of the board of directors of Tee It Up for the Troops, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for choosing our organization as Slumberland’s charitable partner during your Veterans Day sales event.   The financial donation and exposure for Tee It Up for the Troops is invaluable to our efforts to help combat-altered veterans.   The most authentic brands are ones that are faithful to something other than just profits.  They have a higher purpose and understand the positive impact they can have on a community. That’s Slumberland. Your company’s people, core values, integrity and compassion define you as company that practices what it preaches.”

-Patrick Klinger, Tee It Up for the Troops Board Directorvet_sale_ppcover

 

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FIRST “OPERATION HEARTFIRST” GYM OFFICIALLY OPENS

Grand Opening ceremonies for, military veterans, Tristan and Hannah Ambrozewski’s Anytime Fitness gym in Southern Pines, NC – near Fort Bragg – took place on April 12th, 2016.

The very first beneficiaries of a partnership between Tee It Up for the Troops and Anytime Fitness’ Operation HeartFirst initiative are dedicated to helping other military veterans and their families get to a healthier place.

Asked what they would like to say to Operation HeartFirst contributors, Tristan replied, “Three things:  Thank you.  Thank you.  And thank you!”

The next Operation HeartFirst recipient(s) will be introduced at Anytime Fitness’ conference in Lake Placid in August of 2016. This opportunity is for the Columbus, GA area near Fort Benning. Click here for information about the 2nd Operation Heartfirst opportunity. 

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Proceeds From Inaugural Event Held at Bent Tree Country Club Making A Difference!

Retired Marine and Bent Tree Country Club member, Jay Cassen, along with former marine and Asst General Manager, Kyle Ruch, presented Clint Bruce, former Navy Seal and co-founder of Carry The Load with a $46,000 donation which will be used to continue the mission of Carry The Load.

In addition to this local donation, we were also able to contribute another $46,000 to other veteran service organizations including Fisher House Foundation, Disabled Sports USA, and Hope For The Warriors among others!

These donations were made possible from the generous attendees of the Inaugural Tee It Up for the Troops event held at Bent Tree Country Club on Veteran’s Day 2015.

Thank you to all who made these donations possible and for helping Tee It Up for the Troops fulfill OUR MISSION to HONOR, RESPECT, REMEMBER and SUPPORT all those who have served in the armed forces for our great nation!

Bent Tree Tee It Up for the Troop Golf event

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Bogey is the best thing that ever happened to this soldier!

Thank YOU sponsors, donors and volunteers – it is because of YOU that this healing is happening…

From Drew Brandenburg: “I just wanted to let you all know he (Bogey) is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and you guys couldn’t have blessed me any better than by donating the funds (to K9s For Warriors) for Bogey. He has turned my world around and it’s only been 2 months.

“Without organizations like yours soldiers continue to fall and are never able to get back up. Thank you again for all you do and have done, not only for me but for all veterans you connect with.”