Dear Veterans, Donors, and Supporters,
Our Mission Flexible Veteran’s WhatsApp group chat has been on FIRE lately.
I was away from my phone briefly and came back to 92 unread messages:
Clearly, we are all very excited about our upcoming Veteran’s mindfulness retreat near Asheville, NC. (To be fair, it’s a combination of retreat excitement, Air Force bashing, and cute dog photos in that chat.)
We are three weeks out and the retreat details are coming together: group shirts are ordered, and so are the notebooks. We have insurance, and our dietary requirements were submitted to the camp cook. Art project materials have been purchased, and we are coordinating the rides from the airport. It’s ON!
We have an equal number of new participants and returning Veterans, and equal numbers of men and women. This will be our first retreat at the lovely Skyland Camp, and our program will include equine therapy. This is especially fun because we have two Vets who are pretty freaked out by horses. (Their wives have requested video of this entire equine experience.)
We’ll have our core practices of yoga, meditation, and writing. We’ll have a spa night, pickleball, nature trails, and swimming. And this time, the therapeutic art project, writing practice, and yoga will all be Veteran-led classes!
Looks Like Fun, Acts Like Suicide Prevention
Outside of retreats, we’ve continued our connection through the weekly Vet yoga class on Zoom, our monthly virtual retreat, and our chaotic-but-amazing WhatsApp chat. It’s essential to keep the support going long after the in-person retreat is over. Suicide prevention is foundational to our mission, and one way we do that is by offering continual camaraderie once Vets go back home.
This is possible because of you!
Thank you so much to those who have donated to our nonprofit. Every dollar makes a significant impact on someone who has served this country. As one Veteran recently wrote me:
”In a world that has gone to absolute shit, what you are doing is a bright light that needs to spread. Yeah yeah don't cry. Just being honest.”
(They know I’m a crier. So of course that made me cry.)
We have three more retreats coming up: August/Asheville, November/Houston, and January/Austin. The Asheville retreat is full, but you can find the applications here if you’re interested in applying for the Houston or Austin program.
Mission Flexible is fully funded through the end of 2023 (yay, thank you!) and so we are looking ahead to our 2024 retreats. We would LOVE to be able to have enough funding to add one or two more retreats to our calendar. We have about 40 - 50 Veterans who apply for the 15 spots on each retreat, so the need for expanding these programs is significant.
If you know of anyone who might be interested in donating or know of a potential corporate sponsor for the retreat, please respond to this email so that I can reach out and share the amazing work that we do. We offer one-time or monthly giving options.
Mission Flexible Swag is 20% Off!
If you want to stock up on shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and dog bandanas - do it now! Get 20% off and all the proceeds go directly to funding retreats.
Thank you so much for being part of this MF family. I’m grateful for the support and look forward to all the amazing things we have in our future.
Oh, and have you caught up on all our past retreat videos? You can do that here.
Much love,
~Lisa Jakub and the Mission Flexible Fam
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