WVFV announces the donation of farm vehicles to three veterans for Veterans Day 2015!
Work Vessels for Veterans, Inc. is proud to announce the donation of farm vehicles to three veterans for Veterans Day 2015!
Lt. Andrew Sweeney, USCG (ret) will be awarded a Kubata tractor and attachments for their Lebanon, Connecticut Liberty Hill Farm. A veteran of over 20 years in the USCG, Andy rose up through the enlisted ranks and stood watch all over the globe in Coast Guard rescue missions and ice patrols. Retiring to his Connecticut home, Andy and his wife, who is also a US Coast Guard veteran are restoring an historic farm at the top of Liberty Hill. Local officials credit Andy with saving this farm from development. Work Vessels for Veterans has provided $5,000 in funds to assist in the purchase of a stronger tractor. This machine replaces an old small tractor that the Sweeney's inherited with the farm at the purchase. Andy has big plans to use the increased power of this new machine to clear a large field that has only been used for haying and bring it into acres of food production raising corn, and other vegetables. These new products will add to Liberty Hill's current line of greenhouse flowers and hydroponic Romaine lettuce.
Today in Scio, Oregon, Work Vessels for Veterans is delivering a 4WD Polaris ATV and accessories to US Army veteran Mickey Clayton. She has a service connected disability rated at 100%, including a mobility impairment due to injuries she sustained in Iraq. Mickey is half Lakota Indian and raises Navajo Churro Sheep, an American heritage breed on her 40 acre ranch situated in the Cascade foothills of Oregon. "The terrain is very steep and slick," she writes. "And because of my injuries, I am unable to ride a horse to do routine things like round up animals, bring in sick or newborn calves and lambs, or check fence lines for regular upkeep." Work Vessels for Veterans has purchased the $5,000 ATV that will enable her to expand her ranch to support herself and her daughter.
And in Bristol, Vermont, Jon Turner, USMC, will receive $6,000 of farm equipment today. Jon returned to farming after three deployments between 2003 and 2007. A Purple Heart recipient due to shrapnel to his face (minor), and then injured again by an IED the following day. His Wild Roots Farm has grown literally out of the woods, and now offers training and horticultural therapy as an outpost of the Farmer Veteran Coalition. Work Vessels for Veterans has paid for $6,000 for farm equipment including a greenhouse, water pump and other supplies. Jon will continue training fellow veterans who are seeking serenity in northern woods farming.
These grants for tractors, farm vehicles and farm equipment are made possible by grants from donors to Work Vessels for Veterans including Newman's Own Foundation which awarded $30,000 to the WVFV Farm Equipment Fund, as well as cash donations from individual donors and discounts from tractor supply dealers around the country. Work Vessels for Veterans, Inc. also just received the 2015 TOP RATED NONPROFIT AWARD from Great Nonprofits, a national rating agency.
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