VFW Asks Area Veterans to Share How They are #StillServing

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (November 5, 2020) — To kick off its new campaign to bring attention to and honor the continued commitment of America's military veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is asking Kansas City veterans to share stories on how they are #StillServing.

The Corporation for National & Community Service's 2018 Volunteering in America Report shows that veterans volunteer 25 percent more time, are 17 percent more likely to make a monetary donation and are 30 percent more likely to participate in local organizations than the civilian population. The VFW urges Kansas City veterans to visit vfw.org/StillServing to learn more about the campaign, share their story, make a shareable image of their service, watch videos of VFW members making a difference and see a collection of user-generated content.

For example, local veteran and officer with the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) Maj. Darren Ivey shared how he is #StillServing. While serving as commander of the KCPD’s Crisis Intervention Team, Maj. Ivey began to see just how many first responders and military members were affected by trauma, secondary trauma and stress. He also saw the effects including permanent and profound behavioral change, chronic exhaustion, fear, illness, anger, avoidance and work absenteeism and turnover. This lead Maj. Ivey and his team to develop a course teaching participants to recognize stress and secondary trauma’s physical and emotional effects and to develop coping skills to build resiliency for both self and peer support. The training has been taught to thousands of first responders, military members, veterans, social service members and families and has led to partnerships with other organizations including My Battle Within, Save a Warrior and the Pause First Project.

Building on a legacy of service that spans more than a century, #StillServing represents the heart of the VFW and its members, and conveys what today's VFW embodies. The VFW encourages all veterans to share stories on social media using #StillServing to show how they continue to answer the call to serve in ways big and small. In addition, family or friends are asked to use #StillServing in social media posts to honor a veteran in their lives who believes the spirit of service transcends military life.

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ABOUT THE VFW: The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is the nation's largest and oldest major war veterans organization. Founded in 1899, the congressionally-chartered VFW is comprised entirely of eligible veterans and military service members from the active, Guard and Reserve forces. With more than 1.6 million VFW and Auxiliary members located in over 6,000 Posts worldwide, the nonprofit veterans service organization is proud to proclaim "NO ONE DOES MORE FOR VETERANS" than the VFW, which is dedicated to veterans' service, legislative advocacy, and military and community service programs. For more information or to join, visit our website at vfw.org.

Media Contact: Randi K. Law, Communications Manager, rlaw@vfw.org, 816.968.1104.