You And The Service Brigade...
 

Well, I haven't been posting as much lately, but I have been lurking in the shadows and keeping up with the current events on the board. I have been very busy with the decision that I have made with my future and I am at the point in this process that I feel comfortable bringing it out into the open and sharing it with you guys and gals. First of all let me say that some of you guys that have posted here recently about careers and unhappiness at the work place, I feel your pain... As many of you know, I originally expressed the desire to open a restaurant. Since cooking is truly one of the things in life that I enjoy doing, I could of been quite happy fulfilling that passion. Due to the problems I am having with my ankle I opted out of that dream as I felt that I could not stay on my feet long enough during the day to give the required attention to detail to the process. This is partly to blame for selfish reasons as I get satisfaction out of the process of cooking, and not out of the deligation of authority to others to complete the process... This brought on a bit of depression, and I had to really search myself for a while to see what if anything could and would hold my attention span long enough to make me feel as if I were making the right decision for my future and towards other people in general.

After watching several documentaries and after reading and viewing several reports from different media outlets (Including Pelican OT). I decided that I wanted to help people, but I was torn between the prospects of helping homeless veterans and helping the impoverished around the world.... The conclusion that I came to was to form a non-profit corporation that would serve to fill both roles. One of helping Veterans and One of Veterans helping.

The non profit that I have formed is called "The Service Brigade". The mission of The Service Brigade will be to provide Veterans and their immeadiate family with basic needs (such as food, shelter, clothing etc..). The Service Brigade will also serve as a portal for Veterans that are not in need to provide basic needs to impoverished individuals throughout the world as a group.

We will try to acquire funding from local, state and federal grants as well as from private foundations. We will also do various forms of fundraising and will accept donations on our website.

I have currently completed our application for recognition of exemption and I plan on mailing it out to the IRS towards the middle of next week. What I would like to ask from you guys, is for emails of letters of intent sent to servicebrigade @aol.com stating that you will contribute to the organization once our letter of recognition is issued. These letters of intent will help me show the IRS that I do have public support for the project. You do not have to put a specific amount on your letter of intent, just that you plan on supporting The Service Brigade. I will not hold you to any size donation, if all you can afford is a dollar, then that would be greatly appreciated. I will have our website completed and published towards the end of next week, and the website will be www.theservicebrigade.org The website will feature a forum and will keep everyone up to date on our mission.

Once funding allows, I will be posting occasional threads that will allow you to take part in some of the missions that will be occuring. We would like to see a majority of Veteran volunteers, but we will be open to any that would like to join us. For starters it seems that we will be delivering food and clothing to an orphange in Reynosa Mexico and to the homeless folks near Monterrey Mexico. These two locations will be close to home and will give us valuble insight into dealing with a foreign country and to working with its local governments. Once the dates for these missions are set, I will post them for you giving you a chance to volunteer.

The Journey has begun......;)