Bastion Community of Resilience

Join the Bastion veteran community at our 2nd annual Gala of Resilience on Friday, November 15th! This impactful evening will benefit the expansion of Bastion's programs and services, helping us reach more of the 15,000+ veterans who call New Orleans home and connecting veterans in other cities with replications of our Headway brain injury program. We'll be gathering once again at our magical venue, The National WWII Museum in their US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. Enjoy food, music, keynote speeches, and a special video presentation about our Headway program beneath six hanging WWII aircrafts. Visit our website for ticket & sponsorship information! We have General Admission and VIP ticket options available, plus two sponsorship packages which include designated tables at the event. Gala of Resilience: https://lnkd.in/gMshr8Wh

After a fantastic week of connecting with veterans from around the country at The American Legion National Convention, Bastion was lucky enough to welcome Legion representatives to visit our residential community. American Legion's Veterans Employment & Education Division (VEED) visited organizations all across New Orleans that work to uplift veterans through housing, community support, and rehabilitative services. Our friends from American Legion provided Bastion's veterans with tote bags full of personal care and hygiene products, plus gift cards for each household. Check out the article below to learn more about their New Orleans visit, including a video featuring Bastion! Full coverage here: https://lnkd.in/gMvmSY_9

This summer, we hosted the artwork of veterans from the Bastion Community of Resilience in The Gallery at Phelps. Through Bastion's Headway program, veterans use art therapy to heal from traumatic brain injuries, and their inspiring creations were on display in our New Orleans office lobby. This partnership not only showcases their incredible talent but also supports their journey of healing and resilience. During the gallery exhibit, we heard firsthand accounts from these veterans, who courageously shared how Bastion and this art program have changed their lives. Please join us in celebrating these brave individuals and the transformative power of art! For more information about Bastion, visit their website and discover how you can make a difference here >> https://joinbastion.org/

Thank you Wounded Warrior Project for welcoming Bastion this week at the 2024 Partner Convening! Wounded Warrior Project’s Partner Convening provides an essential opportunity for WWP partners like Bastion to connect and coordinate with other impactful organizations that WWP supports. By collaborating with our fellow community partners, we’re able to explore and expand new offerings for our veterans. As a nonprofit, Bastion strives to be an innovator in fostering community and independence for veterans, and our WWP-funded Headway program is a perfect example of that. Headway serves post-9/11 veterans living with Traumatic Brain Injuries and other neurological conditions. Our dedicated team of clinical specialists help Headway participants maximize independence, improve skills, and build supportive networks. Veteran participants can access community-based occupational therapy, engage creatively through music and art therapy, build practical and vocational skills, spend time in the community, participate in recreational and wellness activities, and more with their fellow veterans every week. Through the Headway program, Bastion is helping veterans gain connection, support, and sense of purpose while navigating the impacts of their permanent disabilities. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/gPFuTAYk

Today at Bastion we join every other New Orleanian in remembering Hurricane Katrina, which struck our city 19 years ago today. We mourn those we lost, and grieve for all the suffering that so many in our city endured in the days and weeks that followed. But today we also honor our origins in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our community was built at the site of the London Avenue canal breach; we literally sit at Katrina's ground zero. Bastion exists today as a community where veterans can help each other neighbor to neighbor because the people of New Orleans showed the world how strong we all can be, how resilient we can be when we join hands with our neighbors to carry on together. Katrina could not keep New Orleans down, the people of this city loved each other too much to let it. The veterans of Bastion honor that love, as well as the loss so many of us still feel, today and every day.

We are grateful to everyone who joined us at the Split Second Foundation's cocktail reception, marking the launch of our capital campaign to raise $5 million for our new Holistic Wellness Center in New Orleans East. With $3 million already raised, your support brings us closer to achieving our goal, with just $2 million remaining. A special thank you to US Congressman TROY A. CARTER, Sr. Carter for securing $1.8 million from the US Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, and Councilwoman Helena Moreno for her crucial role in securing $1 million from the City of New Orleans. We also extend our heartfelt appreciation to the wonderful ladies of Impact 100 for their generous award of $100,000, Bastion Community of Resilience for securing $140,000, and Darryl Willis for his personal commitment of $100,000 to our campaign. Your presence and contributions at the event have fueled our vision for a community where wellness and accessibility are universally attainable. Thank you for your commitment and for believing in our mission. Together, we are making significant strides towards a healthier and more inclusive future.

Thanks to our two resident chefs, Bastion is able to host educational meals for our residents on a regular basis. These Healthy Meal events consist of nutrition education, tips around cooking for chronic health conditions, and connection between veterans and family members over a shared meal. Thank you to Miss Sylvia for leading our most recent Healthy Meal! We would not be able to make community events like these possible without the commitment of our residents towards serving their neighbors and bettering themselves. We would also like to thank the Bob Woodruff Foundation for helping to fund our food program so that we can keep our community pantry stocked and pay our resident chefs to cook nutritious meals for different events, programs, and community gatherings.

Thank you Phelps Dunbar LLP for once again hosting our veterans for a fabulous summer art luncheon! This year marks our third summer partnering with Phelps to celebrate the artwork and creative journeys of our Headway veterans. The team at Phelps' Canal Place location generously allowed us to display Headway artwork in their office throughout this summer, culminating in a special luncheon during which our veterans got to see their work up on the walls and share with guests about their artistic process and creative inspirations. Bastion's Headway program serves post-9/11 veterans living with traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions. Our Headway veterans participate in a variety of activities and therapies at Bastion, from art and music therapy to adaptive movement classes. Art therapy is a favorite amongst our Headway crew, and their art therapist Raney-Mills Turner has been helping them bring their creative visions to life in a safe, supportive setting. "Holding art therapy groups with Bastion's Veterans these past six years is a true gift. Bearing witness to their creativity and commitment to their personal growth is almost indescribable," Turner said. "The guys have been preparing for the Phelps Dunbar art show since February, and the therapeutic benefit is multi-layered. The therapy is in the initial spark of an idea, in the creative process of bringing the idea to life, in the verbal support from each other when a challenge presents itself; it is in the authentic choices they make each time they show up for group. And lastly, the therapy is in seeing their masterfully completed works of art showcased on a wall next to their peers. That feeling is pure, rare and whole."

This is a huge victory for veterans living with disabilities! Historically, veterans with significant disabilities were effectively frozen out of most affordable housing because their disability pension was calculated as income, placing them outside the income threshold for support. This left those veterans stuck in a seemingly permanent purgatory of financial instability. Thanks to this policy change removing disability benefits from income calculations, disabled veterans will be able to access the affordable housing options they deserve, including options like the Bastion residential community which was built with those veterans and their needs in mind. https://lnkd.in/giZdDe_8

Jackson Smith is focused. Follow Bastion Community of Resilience to watch this new facility for military-connected families come to life! #veteranwellnesscenter