Happy Hawg BBQ In Hiram Georgia Honors Paulding County Military Veterans

Hiram, Georgia – December 2017 – Happy Hawg BBQ owner, Charles, cares about our nation’s veterans. In both November and December, Happy Haw BBQ designated a day to give a portion of their proceeds to help support a local veteran organization, Operation Not Forgotten.
Charles says, “I think it’s a good way for businesses to show their appreciation for our veterans. Not enough is being done to help our nation’s veterans, and we have needed a local organization to reach out to veterans in Paulding and Douglas counties.
Currently, we have chosen Operation Not Forgotten because we know they are giving local veterans a better quality of life through the Paulding County Vet Life Community.”
A member of the Paulding Vet Life Community, Jim Ellis, says, “I am a 20+ year Veteran. I have only been involved in the Vet Life Community program for a few months, but those few months have benefited me, and my family, more than the decade of trying to stand on my own.”
Steve Schiffman, Founder and Executive Director of Operation Not Forgotten explains, “Operation Not Forgotten works through our local program Vet Life Community. We have started Vet Life Communities in Dallas, McDonough, Woodstock, Acworth, and Valdosta, Georgia, so far, and we plan to bring this program to veterans and their families across our nation.”

Critical Veteran HealthCare Issues Facing Our Nation
Fact: One in three returning troops from the war zones are being diagnosed with serious Post Traumatic Stress symptoms − and less than 40% will receive help (PTSD Foundation of America). It is an established fact that approximately 76% of all -more - veterans never see the inside of a VA Medical Center or VA Clinic because most are reluctant to admit difficulties or communicate their pain for fear it may be perceived as weakness by family members, buddies, friends, and co-workers− and many fear the potential label or stigma of mental illness.
Fact: For troops suffering from combat trauma two out of three of their marriages are failing. Veteran homelessness is on the rise with 1/3 of our nations homeless being veterans (PTSD Foundation of America).
Fact: The most extensive study yet by the U.S. government on suicide among military veterans shows more veterans are killing themselves than previously thought, with 22 deaths a day - or one every 65 minutes, on average (Department of Veteran Affairs, Washington D.C.). We are now losing more veterans to suicide than in combat.

Why Vet Life Communities?
“There is no other program like Vet Life Communities,” said Steve Schiffman, Executive Director of Operation Not Forgotten.” He went on to list several unique attributes of these model programs to help veterans:

1. While most veteran centers, such as those operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, are located in major cities in each state, Vet Life Communities meet vets where they live and work.
2. The people in local communities, who really care, and who see firsthand the needs of local veterans, now have a way to make a real difference.
3. The Vet Life Community meetings use a peer-mentoring approach and are completely confidential, which helps veterans share their issues with other veterans who have similar experiences.

“One of the best tools of the ONF model is an online assessment tool that veterans can take to help them determine various issues they need to deal with,” Schiffman points out. “With this unique instrument, they can identify the areas of their lives that need attention then join with other veterans to help provide solutions.”
Operation Not Forgotten is a program of Life Renewed, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Douglasville, Georgia. For more information, go to https://operationnotforgotten.com/.