Welcome Back Veterans awards $4M in grants
The University of Michigan (Tigers), Emory University in Atlanta (Braves), the Red Sox Foundation and the University of California-Los Angeles (Angels) each were awarded a $1 million grant through Welcome Back Veterans and the backing of respective local clubs, Major League Baseball Charities and the McCormick Foundation announced on Thursday.
All four grants are earmarked for university hospitals that are developing programs and creating Centers of Excellence to treat veterans and their family members who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
MLB Charities and the McCormick Foundation have awarded about $11 million to date for programs serving veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
We are proud to join with Major League Baseball in this effort to support healthcare and research to help veterans successfully return to life with their families and communities."
The Core Center programs are designed to improve access to mental health treatment and reintegration resources for veterans, and to provide support, education and programs to military families throughout the deployment cycle.
The program will continue to focus on the National Guard and Reserve and their families through the Buddy-to-Buddy and Strong Families program, and its Military Family Support Forum. The Military Family Support Forum is a monthly group offering support and education to all military family members throughout the deployment cycle.
Veterans are selected to participate in "Verlander's Victory for Veterans," a program that invites veterans who sustained injuries or illness during missions in Iraq or Afghanistan to attend a game started by Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander with their family in the personal luxury suite of Verlander. The Home Base Program offers confidential clinical care for New England-based veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI and PTSD, while also providing counseling and support services for their families.
The grant will support expansion of the multidisciplinary team to treat more veterans and family members and sustain their care; help to establish a telemedicine regional program to reach veterans unable to travel to Boston for treatment and to enhance clinical care for patients currently seeking care in Boston; and allow the program to further test the viability of Home Base as a national model for replication.
The program will develop, test and disseminate innovative family and community interventions that decrease the negative effects of deployment for veterans and their families coping with PTSD. The program will build upon and expand its experience with family and couples-based PTSD intervention, trauma prevention and resilience services to develop a program adapted for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.
The Angels will support the program through center visits by Angels player alumni and inviting veterans and their families to Angels games.
Welcome Back Veterans is an MLB Charities initiative, in partnership with the McCormick Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, designed to support returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families in helping them make a successful transition to civilian life. Welcome Back Veterans grants have gone to nonprofit agencies targeting veterans and their families' greatest needs, focusing on treatment and research of PTSD and TBI. All MLB clubs are wearing Stars & Stripes caps for the fourth consecutive year during this Independence Day weekend, as part of Major League Baseball's national fundraising and awareness initiatives for Welcome Back Veterans.
or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp%3Fymd%3D20110630%26content_id%3D21219754%26vkey%3Dnews_mlb%26c_id%3Dmlb&ct=ga&cad=CAEQARgAIAAoATAAOABAjPKz8ARIAlAAWABiBWVuLVVT&cd=cHXJHUjVSv8&usg=AFQjCNE7uqlu7kZAlpF1IHNp5CEpcD2NYg