November 10, 2010
Contact: Oliver Bernstein, Sierra Club, 512.477.2152
Sierra Club Honors Our Nation’s Veterans
Washington, D.C. -- In honor of our past, present and future service-members, Sierra Club is celebrating this Veterans Day with a week of special activities. Sierra Club supports veterans through a variety of initiatives through our Military Families Outdoors program, and Veterans Day is a special time for reflecting on and honoring their service to our country.
"Sierra Club is proud to honor our nation’s veterans and committed to easing the transition home for our returning service-members," says Sierra Club’s National Youth and Special Projects Director, Martin LeBlanc. "Whether it is by preparing veterans for jobs in the green economy through weatherization training or giving veterans an opportunity to acclimate to civilian life with a back-packing trip, Sierra Club salutes our veterans today and every day."
Sierra Club celebrates veterans this week by hosting and participating in the following events:
November 9 – Sierra Club celebrates veterans through green job training
Sierra Club celebrated the Military Housing Energy Efficiency Project (MHEEP) by weatherizing the home of an Active Duty Marine in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. MHEEP is a new project made possible by Sierra Club’s Military Families Outdoors Initiative (www.sierraclub.org/military). Through MHEEP, veterans are identified by Veterans Green Jobs and trained to weatherize residential properties by the Laborers International Union of North America. Following training, the veterans will join the green economy and weatherize the homes of 50 military families in the region. With one in four construction workers currently unemployed – and as many as one in five veterans unemployed – there is an urgent need to generate good, green and forward-looking jobs like those established through this program.
November 10 – New York -- Sierra Club benefactor receives honor at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Annual Gala
On the eve of Veteran’s Day, Sierra Club leadership will attend the 4th annual Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Gala in New York City. This year IAVA will honor David Gelbaum, CEO of Entech Solar, chairman of The Quercus Trust, venture philanthropist and supporter of the Sierra Club’s Military Families Outdoors initiative, with the 2010 IAVA Civilian Service Award. Gelbaum’s unprecedented and inspiring philanthropic support of this newest generation of veterans has transformed the landscape of support for a generation of veterans and their families.
November 11 – Sierra Club co-hosts Mission Serve event with Veterans Conservation Corps
Mission Serve is coordinating 20 coast-to-coast signature service projects with leaders from across America that will celebrate and honor our military communities. In Seattle, AmeriCorps, Earth Corps, Sierra Club and Veterans Conservation Corps will work side by side to remove invasive plant species and plant native plants along Hamm Creek. The restoration effort at Hamm Creek was started by Jon Beal, a veteran who made it the last cause of his life to save this important watershed for salmon. During the event, Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn, Mark Fischer of Veterans Conservation Corps, Bill Basl of the WA Commission for National and Community Service, and Liana and Robert Beal- children of the late veteran Jon Beal will share a few words about the significance of Veterans Day.
For more information visit www.sierraclub.org/military
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