BFL Visits MCVET
If you've been following our journey with Tyler Stallings, you already know that he stole the show as the guest speaker at our 3rd Annual Golf Outing! Tyler was recently featured on the hit show Little Big Shots for his incredible work with homeless veterans in the Baltimore area. Oh and did we mention...he is SIX years old! Tyler hands out "hero packs", similar to our backpacks, to veterans on the streets of Baltimore and in local shelters and veteran facilities.
At our golf outing, attendees participated in a live auction donation segment where we set a goal to get enough donations for 300 backpacks. Thanks so our amazing supporters we were able to reach that goal! The best part of this live auction was that we were able to surprise Tyler to let him know that we would be giving him these 300 backpacks to continue doing his part for our veterans in the Baltimore area.
At Backpacks For Life, we are all about partnership and working with other organizations and people who care about serving our veterans. It was a no brainer that we would help not only Tyler, but also the organization that he works closely with in his area, Maryland Center for Veteran Education & Training (MCVET).
On Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, we drove down to Baltimore with 300 backpacks in our van. We gave half of the backpacks to Tyler which he will continue to use in his hero packs. The other half of the backpacks went to MCVET, who Tyler visits frequently to distribute his packs. Tyler and the staff of MCVET welcomed us with such sincere gratitude, giving us a top notch tour of their facility. MCVET is truly an all in one place for a veteran to get the help, care & guidance they need. Although located in Maryland, MCVET is a national nonprofit organization and helps veterans from across the country. We're proud to announce that the backpacks we donated to MCVET, will be distributed at the MCVET Homeless Veteran Stand Down on June 2nd & 3rd.
The facility is immaculate and the veterans are the ones who keep it that way. Structured similarly to the military, each veteran is placed in a platoon and they are all assigned different tasks and duties to keep the facility in tip top shape. Veterans are able to take part in intensive outpatient programs, in patient treatment, schooling, recreational activities and live amongst other veterans. The program is a set up so that veterans gradually become ready to go back into the outside world. This is just the tip of the iceberg though! MCVET is constantly upgrading their facilities to give veterans the best meals, proper access to internet & education, devoted time with social workers and case workers and much more. You can check out our tour of the facility in the video below which shows you the 3 stages of living at MCVET.
We are grateful to know that a place like MCVET exists for veterans. The Director for Development said it best, when these veterans enter the door they are not a homeless veteran, they are a student. MCVET is a place for nurturing, learning and developing so that our veterans can get back to living their best life!
Learn more about MCVET by visiting www.mcvet.org