Our goal for the Veterans Outreach Program is to provide a one-stop point of contact for any issue that affects a veteran or his or her family.
What is WAVE all about? In March of 2013, then Commander of the Gardnerville, NV Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Ron Garside, challenged Douglas County to create a Veterans Hall. In his challenge before the Douglas County Commission, he stated that Douglas County is one of the few counties in Nevada - if not the nation - that does not have a Veteran's Hall of some type. That challenge was taken seriously by Commissioners Barry Penzel (a Veteran himself) and Vice-Chair Nancy McDermid (the mother of a Veteran). By June of 2013, the concept of a Veterans Outreach Council had been proposed to the Director of Nevada Veterans Services, Caleb Cage. Director Cage invited the fledgling organization to participate in the Nevada Green Zone Initiative - a state-wide effort to get to veterans of all wars the services and benefits that they have earned. Past President (PER) of the Carson Tahoe Elks BPOE 2670, Tom Zagorski, explained that the Elks contributed $1000 to get the organization going. The Elks have a long history of support for Veterans causes, and the Elks founded the first hospital for Veterans - which became the forerunner of the current Veterans Hospital system. So the pieces began to coalesce. By August of 2013 it was clear that there was significant support for Veterans in Douglas County. | About Us To meet our broad mission statement, it was important to involve as many members of the community as possible. The more the initiative was publicized, the more members of the community wanted to be involved. Purple Heart Veteran Carl Schnock was elected President and a management team was selected. Carl offered that the Outreach name needed to be changed and suggested that the organization change its name to WAVE (Welcome All Veterans Everywhere). The Board of Directors and members who attended the meeting agreed that the new name was explanatory of the organization's mission. During the early part of 2014, the Board determined that the population of veterans in Douglas County numbered 5,606 - based on the official census of 2010. So Veterans actually make up about 12 percent of our population (out of 46,997 total). The large number of Veterans who live in Douglas County surprised the committee, and confirmed the impression that Veterans wants and needs had been largely ignored in Douglas County. Helping Veterans By January of 2014, the Committee had filed its incorporation papers and was researching the process for becoming a non-profit organization under IRS Code 501c3. At the same time, board member Debbie Posnien (Executive Director of the Douglas County Suicide Prevention Network) and Cheryl Bricker (Executive Director of the Partnership of Community Resources) offered their organizations and headquarters as a place for WAVE to meet. With a stable meeting place, the organization focused on getting into action. The Committee started listening to testimonials from Veterans of Vietnam and Desert Storm. It became obvious that the same Veterans issues that were being seen across the nation existed in Douglas County as well. Veterans were being denied care based on their disabilities incurred while in the service, discharged with mental health issues, and those with PTSD were largely ignored. Surveys of the VA Clinic revealed that Veterans who are receiving care are satisfied with the care that they receive. But there is no data on Veterans who have been denied care, or are awating care. In other words, the issue is access to the system itself, rather than the level of care that it provides. WAVE is working to help Veterans obtain the care that they earned and were promised. Officers
Board Members
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