Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental condition that results from experiencing a dangerous, frightening, or uncontrollable event such as combat, violent crime, or a life-threatening accident. Veterans suffer from PTSD — also known as soldier’s heart, shell shock, and battle fatigue — at high rates. Vietnam Veterans of America is dedicated to getting PTSD sufferers from all U.S. conflicts the help they need to manage symptoms and related problems such as substance abuse.
Tag: helping veterans
June Is PTSD Awareness Month
June is PTSD Awareness Month, and the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs wants everyone to spread the word that effective PTSD treatments are available and anyone suffering the symptoms should get help. If you or someone you know has experienced upsetting memories, is on edge, or is have trouble sleeping following a traumatic event — even one that happened long ago, such as active-duty combat — it could be PTSD. Visit the National Center for PTSD for more information.
Vote to Clean House – And Help Veterans
Greetings, readers! The Organizing Blog is back from its six-month pandemic hiatus — and just in time for a presidential election that’s sure to be contentious. Today, get out and exercise your right to vote if you haven’t already.
You may be in the mood to “clean house” with your vote, given the disruptions COVID-19 has brought to everyday life. Are you better off than you were four years ago? Hard to say — but life pre-COVID was almost certainly less stressful.
House is also where you’ve probably been spending a lot of time since March — and you and your family members may be confined there again if the current spikes in coronavirus infections don’t abate before winter.
After you’ve voted, binge-watched your Netflix shows and baked a loaf of sourdough, you may look around your home and find that spending lots of time there has led to added dirt and clutter. And that means it may be a good time to literally clean house.
Maybe you bought a lot of extra stuff online that you later found out you didn’t need in lockdown. Maybe working from home or switching the children to remote learning has created new, voluminous piles of papers. Or maybe the boredom and added wear have you wanting to overhaul the space altogether.
Whatever the reason you want to clean house, remember the nation’s veterans as you declutter, organize and sanitize your space. Donate the stuff you no longer want or need to ClothingDonations.org; we’re again scheduling pickups in many areas.
Veterans are vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis. Most Vietnam vets, for example, are now over 65, and many have preexisting conditions that could make a coronavirus infection life-threatening. And they, too, feel isolated and uncertain in their homes.
The stuff you donate gets resold at secondhand stores to fund programs that provide veterans with health care, housing and other resources. Box it up as you clean house and then arrange for a #donation pickup online at ClothingDonations.org or by calling 888-518-VETS.
You’ll not only be able to enjoy a cleaner, clutter-free home, but also help veterans feel more secure in theirs.
Shop the Thrift for Black Friday Deals
To save even more money on holiday shopping, skip the megamall and go directly to the neighborhood thrift or secondhand store. There, you’ll find tons of gently used winter clothing, housewares, out-of-print books, music, and video games, and other one-of-a-kind finds for a fraction of their original prices, says NerdWallet. While thrifts require a bit of hunting, the savings make it worthwhile — and since many of them are supplied by generous donations to ClothingDonations.org, your dollars will do double-duty to help fund valuable veterans’ programs.
Check the Thrift for Football Fan Gear
Football season is in full swing, and just six weeks in, it has been a roller-coaster ride for many fans. The early part of the season has been marked by an unusual number of huge upsets, shaking up the standings and causing some to question their longtime allegiances.
But for fans looking forward to having their favorite teams make the playoffs (or banking on their Fantasy Football picks), every week is a make-or-break viewing. And for true fans, nothing beats having a jersey or other souvenir announcing which team the support.
On game day, you want to be wearing a pro jersey from your favorite team with your favorite player’s name stitched on the back, or at least a T-shirt or cap with the team logo. Bears or Lions, Patriots or Jets, Saints or Seahawks, fans just have to have the merch.
The trouble is, that stuff is expensive. An “official” NFL Green Bay Packers jersey with Aaron Rogers’ name and number on it starts at $99.99. Add your own last name and another two-digit number, and the price shoots up to $149.99.
This isn’t limited to football only, of course; baseball, basketball and hockey fans have their own high-priced fan gear. Astros, Cardinals, Nationals and Yankees gear will see a surge in sales this week, as those teams vie to compete in Major League Baseball’s World Series.
There is a less costly answer, though, if you’re headed to a gameday event and need to show your sartorial support. The local thrift! Supplied by generous donations to ClothingDonations.org, they are an incredible resource of sports paraphernalia.
Think about it: Pro (and college) sports teams are something lots of people rally around. And a lot of those people — fans — buy themselves new stuff, gain or lose weight, and otherwise grow out of their gear. When they weed that extra stuff out, they often donate it.
That means that the local thrift has lots of jerseys, T-shirts and other stuff representing local and regional teams. It may even have stuff from out-of-town teams if a few of your neighbors have moved to the area and/or maintained their fandoms from afar.
Fan gear is in wide demand, and there is no shortage of it — so why pay more? Track it down at the thrift, and you’ll pay pennies on the dollar compared to buying new. And if you have outgrown some of your own fan gear, donate it to ClothingDonations.org; it will be resold to help fund valuable veterans programs. Yay team!