In January, a new men’s faith-based organization named 10,000 Reasons was formed to support local nonprofits through quarterly $10,000 donations. This week, the first donation was presented to Veterans Empowered Together (VET), with an organization spokesperson saying the money will be used to help local veterans in a variety of ways.
10K Reasons Founding Member Chris Murphy said that the donation actually totaled $10,410. The group aims to have at least 100 men donate at least $100 quarterly. The group then collectively votes on which nonprofit to donate the money to.
Murphy said they had roughly 90 people in attendance at the meeting Tuesday. He said the number of donations shows the community’s support for nonprofits.
“A lot of men out there feel like they’ve got something to contribute, but it’s not much, so maybe they don’t do as much as they think they should. 10K Reasons offers an opportunity for them to be a part of something that will have a real impact,” Murphy said.
VET was announced as the first recipient during a 10K Reasons meeting Tuesday night. VET Commander Brian Basham said that going into the meeting he did not think VET would be chosen, so he was still on “cloud nine” Wednesday.
“What (10K Reasons) is doing in the community is amazing. We don’t take it lightly that we won. We kind of felt like underdogs with nobody knowing who we were and being relatively new to the community, but it was just a great night,” Basham said. “A lot of people there didn’t even know who we were, which is always a good thing to share with people. So we got to network and tell our story a bit, and the whole atmosphere was amazing.”
VET partners with the VFW, AMVETS 75, AMVETS 119, and the American Legion on several occasions, using their buildings to host the meetings. They also partner with other community organizations for projects, such as working with Habitat for Humanity to build a house for a young veteran and their family.
According to Basham, the money will be split in four ways for the organization: mental health programming, veteran aid, community projects, and expenditures.
Fore more information about 10K Reasons or for those interested in joining the group, visit their website here.
