Save a Vet Now

Save A Vet Now is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, operated by unpaid volunteers, dedicated to raising the 20 veteran deaths by suicide that silently occur every day and to supporting prevention efforts to end the crisis. The crisis does not discriminate; we are losing veterans regardless of age, gender, race, or religion and matters are getting worse as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

 Our values suggest that we cannot stand idly by as veteran after veteran is lost to suicide, surely not while we have the capacity to help. In 2019, in a coordinated effort with Coastal Horizons Inc., Save A Vet Now created the Veterans Outreach Program which provides local veterans with an opportunity to receive effective and discrete treatment, without financial barriers, for PTSD, depression, substance use or any other contributor to their suicide ideation.

This Program is designed to respond to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie’s September 2019 call for help at the community level. We agree with Secretary Wilkie that this problem is best addressed at the community level and that is where our efforts are focused.

Raising awareness is challenging considering suicide is an ominous subject to broach and communities are ill informed of the crisis silently unfolding around them.  The real challenge is to break that silence and dispel the stigma inappropriately attached to mental illness. Funding expensive prevention efforts is also challenging, especially during the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Save A Vet Now is a member of the North Carolina Governor’s Challenge, a program designed to raise awareness of the veteran suicide crisis and to coordinate efforts to provide veterans with the support and treatment they need. We can be found in the National Resource Directory and on saveavetnow.org. Save A Vet Now is the recipient of AARP’s 2019 Inspiration Award.

We are all beneficiaries of every veteran’s sacrifice. What better way to pay that forward than to give them the help they so desperately need.