Press Release – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kelly Nutty, Director of Resource Management
9203788527, [email protected]
Riverview Gardens, Inc. and Outagamie County Veterans Treatment Court Receive
Collaborative Grant to Address Root Causes for Veterans in Crisis Appleton, WI (June 17, 2015) – Riverview Gardens, Inc. announced that it received a three-year, $177,803 collaborative grant with the Outagamie County Veterans Treatment Court from the Basic Needs Giving Partnership Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region supported by the U.S. Venture Fund for Basic Needs, the J. J. Keller Foundation and other community partners.
“We are so proud to partner with the Outagamie County Veterans Treatment Court to address the root cause of homelessness and poverty, namely unemployment, for the men and women who have served our country,” said Cindy Sahotsky, Riverview Gardens Executive Director. “Veterans in this
collaborative program have an opportunity through ServiceWorks, our transferable skilled-based jobtraining program, to rebuild leadership skills in our newest social enterprise, which converts our former swimming pool into a year-round hydroponics greenhouse. We are so grateful to the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region and the Basic Needs Giving Partnership Fund partners for this unique opportunity to help veterans be a part of their own solution.”
“The Veterans Treatment Court has embraced adding Riverview Gardens’ ServiceWorks job-training program to its core programming for the veterans we serve,” stated Bernard Vetrone, Director of Outagamie County Criminal Justice Treatment Services. “ServiceWorks gives veterans a new ‘mission,’ providing them an opportunity to use their skills again and gain new ones, while preserving their dignity,addressing their basic needs and stopping the cycle of poverty and homelessness. The Veterans Mentor Group, which participates with the VTC and consists of veteran community leaders who mentor veterans in crisis, will help support veterans at Riverview Gardens.”
Ms. Sahotsky also stated: “Since our inception, Riverview Gardens has worked with veterans in our
ServiceWorks job-training program. We have seen first-hand that many veterans in our community are returning home from service, struggling to reconnect with our community. Returning from combat and service, they are often the hidden homeless, disconnected from families/friends, struggling with physical and mental health-related injuries. The veterans we work with inspired this partnership. We look forward to serving those who have served.”
Riverview Gardens, Inc. is a financially self-sustaining job-training program for people in need, using an urban farm in a park-like setting in downtown Appleton, WI.
Outagamie County Veterans Treatment Court is an innovative opportunity for veterans experiencing trauma from military service compounded by mental health, alcohol and other drug addictions, to receive treatment as an alternative to jail.
For more information, please contact Director of Resource Management, Kelly Nutty, at 920-378-8527 or [email protected].
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