welcome to fy 2022
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to FY 2022
Rogersville TN setting up for Albuquerque racked up a KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL
The 4th of July picnic pool table
Under the cover of our 40x30 tent we have several volunteers moving about the spools that
were donated to us for tables.
Casey Pease, our Albuquerque guru used her connections to add another activity for the veterans
that are dropping in there.
25 June 1950—27 July 1953
Please take a moment to thank our Korean War Veterans and
reflect on their sacrifices
.Web Site We will be updating our website to keep it more up to date so you
can find activities and copies of all the old newsletters.
www.forwardflag.org
SUICIDE PREVENTION QUIZ Each month we will insert a question that relates to Suicide Prevention. For answers write [email protected] WHO (World Health Organization) has a new program for suicide prevention. What
are the initiatives of this program?
REQUEST FOR STORIES We encourage you to share stories of your organization and mission and activities. Submit
A BRIEF HISTORY Thiis month marks the 8th Anniversary of John
McGill and I starting the journey to where we
are today. Our primary mission was and still is
“To raise awareness of the high rate of veteran
suicide and to offer preventive measures”.
Since we were to focus on rural and frontier
areas primarily in SE NM, an area which
encompassed about 25% of the state we knew
we had a major task.
Our first objective since many of the towns that
showed on our state map showed some villages
as ghost towns, but yet the postal service had a
post office there .We decided we would follow
the postal guide and venture into the isolated
villages. What we found was that yes there
was a post office and it acted as a hub for the
residents of the area. A place where they could
catch up or leave messages and an opportunity
for us to talk about veteran suicide and the role
they could play in prevention. We told them
about QPR Gatekeeper Training (QPR
Institute of Spokane WA had given us 200 to
offer free) and how they could complete in an
hour or just do sections and pickup where they
left off.
John keep a complete and accurate log of when
we stopped, who we talked to, male or female
and veteran status. In addition, we kept a
careful inventory of materials we put out at
each location. Nice having a Marine worrying
about those things.
One of the things we had done to give us some
baseline to see if we were being effective was
to ask the National Veterans Hotline to keep up
with the calls they received from the area we
were working in. It seemed that we had
created a little stir in the water as they were
showing a 35% increase in calls from our area.
The question we kept getting from places like
the VA and such was what are you doing. It
seems the simplicity of our plan was working
and hard to understand for those who are use to
https://www.facebook.com/forwardflagtn & https://www.facebook.com/forwardflag.nm
Smart Recovery is our science-based substance abuse
program is held every Wednesday at 7 pm in both our
Tennessee & our New Mexico locations.
OUR PAINT RACKS IN TN MADE BY VET in TN
QPR | Suicide Triage Training
The QPR Triage Training is for those on the "front lines" of suicide prevention. This interactive course
teaches you how to interview potentially suicidal persons, determine immediate risk of suicide, and help
reduce the risk of a suicide attempt or completion through a safety planning and referral process.
the structured role of research. To Be
Continued
Albuquerque, NM Veteran using the archery range
during the 4th
of July Party
Albuquerque, NM Veterans using the pellet gun range during the 4th
of July Party
Albuquerque, NM 4th
of July pies. Who doesn’t
love a good pie?
Albuquerque, NM Veterans enjoying live music during the 4
th of July Party. Thank you
to Larry Lucero for an amazing performance! Larry also provides free beginners guitar
lessons every Tuesday afternoon.
Albuquerque, NM Veteran enjoying Auricular Acupuncture (left). Thank you to
Dr. Herrera who comes out the first Friday of every month to provide this free service for
our Veterans! Soon to be weekly!
Albuquerque, NM Beginners Woodshop
facilitator Edward Casper (upper left) and Veteran and friends and
family participants. Learn to make practical items, such as the items
shown here: bench, coffee table and small table, and book ends.
Thank you to our donors for their generous food and cash donations for the 4
th of
July Party and for everyone who participated and
volunteered! You made it
all possible!
Albuquerque, NM Guitar jam with Larry
Lucero.
Albuquerque, NM Veteran’s Diversion Program graduation. Congratulations to the graduates!
Coffee and fruit for visitors
New Mexico Bluebird deployments: Tugan 3 lunch at Bear Creek in Santa Fe
Tuesdays: Beginners Guitar Lessons from 2:30-3:30 Fridays: Grilled burgers and hotdogs 12-2
1st Fridays: Auricular Acupuncture 2-3 Saturdays: Beginners Wood Shop 10-12
Art supplies available Monday – Friday 9-5
Tennessee
The month of August will be full of deployments for our coffee bunker Aug 5 Farmers market Kingsport
Aug 7 Piney Flats Days Aug 20-21 Lowe’s Kingsport
Aug 28 Knife works Pigeon Forge In the office we are pleased to say our Leather working is taking off! Many have shown an
interest in making holsters and belts.
Leather class is every Monday 10am-11am & every Thursday 1pm-3pm.
Art is held
daily.
QPR | Suicide Triage Training
The QPR Triage Training is for those on the "front lines" of suicide prevention. This interactive course teaches you how to interview potentially suicidal persons, determine immediate risk of su icide, and help
reduce the risk of a suicide attempt or completion through a safety planning and referral process.
Note: This course includes QPR Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention.
New Mexico Bluebird
Tenness Coffee Bunker
Independence Day Parade
Independence Day Cookout
The bunker got to roll on through Downtown Kingsport for their Independence Day parade we were paired with other
local veteran organizations and made some great connections. We headed back to the office for a wonderful cook out where we had a great turn out! Cornhole tournament, kids playing ladder ball, our local entertainment Jeff Orr picking away on his guitar while everyone chowed down on their vittles.
(Left) Our Bluebird bus is currently in repair, and we expect it to be back up
and running within the next two-weeks.
(right) Introducing the newest member of our team and Outreach Specialist Darshan G. Shanti. His name means Teacher of Peace. He is an author of 2 books on leadership, a motivational speaker, and a poet. Serving his fellow veterans is his passion and his mission.