WORK VESSELS FOR VETS INC

Work Vessels for Veterans has a unique and purposeful network of partners in the civilian, military and veteran communities. <br/>1. WVFV calls upon these partners when a veteran applicant qualifies to receive an equipment match. By utilizing corporate and retiree volunteers, WVFV is able to "vet" each applicant for readiness for self-employment and then seek matching donors for the needed equipment. <br/>2. WVFV, as a trusted partner, received referrals for assistance from staff at Walter Reed Hospital, State Veterans' Affairs Departments, the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, and the 10 universities participating in the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Returning Disabled Veterans (EBV PRogram), headquartered at Syracuse University. <br/>3. WVFV is named a sponsored veteran charity of the Academy of Country Music's "Lifting Lives Foundation" and receives funding and national marketing assistance to reach our goals. <br/>4. WVFV engages volunteer business "mentors" to assist and counsel veteran applicants.

Our large network of volunteer mentors, organizational partners and veteran and military resources leverage the work of the WVFV all volunteer personnel. The WVFV Advisory Council of about 50 individual and corporate representatives act as a resource to mentor applicants and match donations with needs. WVFV establishes Memoranda of Understandings with many partners, incuding the Farmer Veteran Coalition, Agribility USA, The Mentoring Corps, The Military Community Coalition, VETSAID, Resources Exchange Association, and many others to leverage donor funds and offer best advice and referrals for veteran-entrepreneurs we serve.

Work Vessels for Veterans measures success by reviewing the number of completed veteran applications each year. Assigned mentors report on veteran business progress to Work Vessels for Vets. WVFV also maintains contact with veteran-entrepreneurs and offers additional mentorship as requested. WVFV reports to granting organizations on the number of veterans served. WVFV measures length of time on a waiting list and geographical distribution of veterans served.

Since 2008, the 9 volunteers who co-founded and continue to run Work Vessels for Veterans, Inc have provided more than 1800 veterans from all 50 states with inkind matches of equipment valued at over $2 .rmillion! That is a remarkable accomplishment. The challenges ahead as over 1.5 million service men and women return to civilian life in America, will be to identify, qualify and match those veterans who seek to be self-employed. Most of our applicant-veterans have some combat related injuries. WVFV will be challenged in the years to come with the need to provide equipment that meets the accomodations required for these injured vets.