The Clackamas print., May 29, 2019, Page 7, Image 7

NEWS
7
Veterans fundraiser put on by students
STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON SISSON
NEWS EDITOR @NEWSMANJAY
A fundraiser intended to raise m oney for,
and awareness of, veterans suicide took place
May 25 at the Elks Lodge in Oregon City.
Although the event was ostensibly ordinary,
its origins were not: from a raffle to a state
representative as keynote speaker, the
entire thing was planned by six Clackamas
Community College students.
The students met in a business technology
class taught by instructor Cole Chatterton,
where they were assigned — during week
one — a final project, of doing something
that would impact a social issue locally. While
students brainstormed ideas in the class,
Jerad Schweitzer w as the first to mention
veteran Suicide as a potential issue. The
students each chose one o f the ideas that
interested them and formed five groups, one
of which coalesced around Schweitzer’ s idea,
whichhe said came from his desire to join the
military from a young age. Adesire inspired
b y his admiration for his great grandpa, a
World War II Navy veteran.
“ I had this glorified vision of being a war
hero and being proud of serving m y country,”
Schweitzer wrote in an email. “ But as 1 grew
older, Iwatchedaclose family friend who was
The other five students who signed onto
his idea all had their own reasons — for some
it was more personal than others— but each
was equally dedicated to the cause. “When
I heard we could do a class project on giving
back to an organization of choice, I jumped
on the opportunity to help the veteran
community. I didn’t know which one or how
I could do it, but I knew that I would have the
support of classmates to help the sparkl had
turn into a flam e,” Schweitzer said.
Figuring it out would require relying on
one another, for better or worse. As team
member Jasjon Galvan recalls, it took some
By supporting and providing help to those
growth;
“ Over tim e, w e w ere each challenged
personally and as a group. The value o f
direct communication [became] the thread
o f growth as a team . I th ink som e o f us
learned to trust others to follow through,
and others o f us happily stepped up to be
leaned on. We all learned to come through
and believe the biggest potential for this
team to accomplish,” Galvan said. “ Not just
saying you think w e can go for a goal but
putting actions behind that belief to propel
us toward it.”
Th ough th e group m ay h ave b een
challenged, once they decided on a raffle
things developed rapidly, or as one team
m em ber Jarule Y o st put it, “ The w heels
started rolling and it caught speed quickly. ”
According to Yost, “ Many businesses and
people from the community came together
to donate or volunteer to help uS. ”
One of the businesses that helped out was
Mission 22, a non-profit focused on battling
who did, I feel like I found adifferent calling
that 1 can proudly do. ”
the ever-rising veteran suicide rate whose
name is derived from a startling statistic:
like a brother to m e go and join the Arm y
where I saw the terrible effects of what it can
do to the ones that I hold close. There are a
million more stories like this, and many end
with a sad and painful ending. So I thought,
why would I just stop at helping one veteran?
W hat if instead of serving the country by
joining the military, w hy don’t I serve m y
country by standing behind those who do?
Rep. Mark Meek takes a question from an attendee during his speech.
that an average of 22 veterans take their own
lives each day in the U.S.
W hen the team w as searching for the
right charity to donate the proceeds o f their
fundraiser to, Mission 22 stood out both for
their goal of impacting veteran suicide rates
and the fact that they’re headquartered in
W est Linn. O ther donations cam e from
Bald Guy Limousine, Sig Sauer and theCCC
Foundation, to name a few. To top off all of
the community support, the team was able
to secure a venue for their fundraiser at no
cost. Galvan knew this would be essential to
her role from the beginning.
“ Everyone knew I am an Oregon City Elks
officer and could try to get a dining room
donated,” Galvan said. “ Instantly, I became
the venue.”
The sixstudents weren’t just able to secure
donors and a venue though, they were also
able to convince a politician to keynote the
fundraiser. U.S. Rep. Mark M eek — w ho
represents the 40th district o f Oregon
— agreed to attend and deliver a speech;
Meek is a vet himself, having served eight
years in the Air Force. In addition to Meek’s
presence, Clackamas County Commissioners
Ken Humberston, Martha Schrader and Paul
Savas each agreed to attend.
When Saturday night rolled around— the
details all sorted out — there was nothing
left to do but execute on a plan that had been
several weeks in the making. The group set
their sights on raising $6,000, which is the
cost of putting a single veteran through one
of Mission 22’ s mental health programs.
The notable figures showed up, the raffle
Was held and speeches were given, but above
all else the group succeeded in their goal —
even if they didn’t quite raise the amount
they had hoped. The fundraiser pulled in
an estimated $3,400, but where it may have
fallen short in a monetary sense, it seemed
to have exceeded the expectations of those
involved. Six CCC students took an idea to
raise money and awareness for apressing and
often overlooked issue and made it reality.
In the process, they proved the power of
community.
“ It’s really awesome that a group of six
students from all walks o f life w ho m et a
mere eight weeks ago can put this together
with the help of this community,” Yost said.
“ It’s dear that there is a lot of support for this
cause because we would not have been able
to do it without everyone’s help. It’s been
pretty amazing.”
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Nay 29, 2019