Run to benefit City Mission’s veterans facility
The Northwood Charitable Foundation will host the Mission Possible 5K Fun Run/1-mile Walk at Peterswood Park in Venetia at 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3. This will be the fourth annual Mission Possible Run.
“I’ve run in them all,” said Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan, and she plans to run in this year’s event as well. “I love the City Mission and the tremendous work they do in changing the lives of those who are in distress. I’ve seen lives transformed by the work done at City Mission.”
Proceeds from the event will support City Mission’s Crabtree-Kovacicek Veterans House, a 22-bed residential facility serving veterans.
The Crabtree-Kovacicek Veterans House opened its doors on July 3 of last year and has been at or near capacity for the last five months, serving veterans in need. During the first year of the program, 13 veterans have successfully moved out of the shelter and into independent housing. One veteran was living in a tent in the woods, another in an empty refrigerator box under a bridge before coming to the Veterans House for help.
This year marks the fourth consecutive year that the Northwood Charitable Foundation has hosted the event and generously agreed to match donations up to $10,000.
“Northwood Charitable Foundation is a charity that targets housing-related issues,” said Jeff McCartney, a board member for the Northwood Charitable Foundation. “With the homelessness crisis in the United States, Northwood Charitable agreed that this is indeed a worthy cause.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that more than 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in the United States, and according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans are 50 percent more likely to be homeless than other Americans.
“The Crabtree-Kovacicek Veterans House is a critical component to the healing process for our veteran population,” said Dean Gartland, president/CEO of City Mission. “Having our veterans living together and supporting one another is the best way for veterans to obtain lasting results.”
For more details about the run and the Crabtree-Kovacicek Veterans House, or to register for this event, please visit www.missionpossiblerun.org.