By DaisyMae VanValkenburgh-Haftel, VETS Email Marketing Manager + HubSpot Administrator
There’s a story we hear far too often, and it begins long before a veteran finds us.
It starts with someone who did everything they were trained to do. Someone who answered every call their country made of them. Someone who showed up in the dust, the heat, the chaos, and the quiet moments that came after a mission was completed. They carried the weight most people will never understand, and carried it with honor.
But when the deployment ended and the world expected the story to resolve into something neat and celebratory, something else happened.
A different kind of war began.
Not the one with tactics and rules and mission briefs–this one was fought in bedrooms at 3 A.M., in grocery store aisles when panic rose out of nowhere, in marriages stretched thin by emotional distance, and in the excruciating silence veterans learn to hide behind. This battle was invisible. Lonelier. More complicated. And there was no roadmap home.
They try everything they’re told to try–appointments, medications, waitlists, new strategies, old strategies, anything that might help them feel like themselves again. They try because they love their families. They try because they’re stubborn. They try because they’re trained to keep going.
But the weight builds. The silence deepens. And one day, they reach out… not only because they believe healing is possible, but because they’ve run out of alternatives.
And that’s when they find VETS.
Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS) exists for this exact moment–when the world has handed a veteran every “support option” except the one that will actually reach the root of their suffering. When what they need isn’t another brochure or prescription, but a lifeline. A real path. A chance.
And that chance begins with someone who chooses to give.
More Than a Number
I could talk about statistics–how up to 44 veterans die by suicide every day, a number that eclipses post-9/11 combat deaths many times over. I could cite data, list studies, pull charts and graphs that prove the scope of this crisis.
But numbers can’t grieve.
Numbers can’t tell you what it feels like to lose someone you served beside.
Numbers don’t hold the faces of children who are trying to understand why their parent can’t smile anymore.
Behind every statistic is a life–a whole story suspended in a single moment of decision.
And behind many of these stories is a turning point that begins with you.
The Quiet Crisis We Can’t Look Away From
TBI, PTSD, addiction, and moral injury don’t leave visible wounds. They don’t announce themselves like broken bones. They settle deeper–in thought patterns, in emotional numbness, in the clenched jaw and the thousand-yard stare that become a veteran’s second skin.
At VETS, we’re not guessing at solutions. We’re not hoping. We are acting.
Since 2019, donors have fueled:
- 1,200+ Foundational Healing Grants
- 7,200+ hours of coaching
- Veterans served in 49 states and around the world
- A community that refuses to let healing end at the treatment. It continues through mentorship, lifelong integration, and connection.
This isn’t theoretical impact.
This is real, measurable human transformation.
And every bit of it exists because someone chose to give.
What Healing Actually Looks Like
Healing isn’t always dramatic. It doesn’t always arrive in tears or revelations. Often, it emerges in the smallest, most human moments:
A father who comes home and instinctively reaches for his child instead of withdrawing.
A spouse who sees their partner’s eyes soften for the first time in years.
A veteran who once counted exit strategies now counting days of peace.
A marriage no longer held together by grit alone but renewed by real connection.
A human being rediscovering the capacity to feel–joy, grief, tenderness, purpose.
This is what your gift makes possible.
Healing that doesn’t just change a moment.
Healing that changes a life.
Why Giving Matters Right Now
The end of the year carries a certain weight. People pause. They take stock of what matters. They look for meaning, for alignment, for belonging. It’s a season full of generosity, yet also a season that can sharpen loneliness for those who are struggling.
While many gather with family, others are white-knuckling their way through memories, triggers, and emotions that feel too heavy to carry alone.
This is why your gift right now matters more than ever.
Not because of a deadline.
Not because of a fundraising goal.
But because the need is immediate, and the stories waiting on our list cannot afford to wait.
When you donate to VETS, you are not funding a vague idea.
You are funding:
- Access to safe, legal, clinical psychedelic-assisted therapy abroad
- Preparation and integration coaching that amplifies the healing process
- Support for spouses and families who walk this path too
- Long-term community and peer mentorship for continued healing
- Critical research and advocacy to expand access for more veterans in the future
You’re not just giving a gift.
You’re giving someone a future.
What Giving Really Means
Giving is an act of belief.
It’s choosing to say: Even though we have never met, your life matters. Even if you think you’ve run out of chances. You have not. We are here.
It’s choosing to become the hinge point between despair and possibility.
For the veterans we serve, giving means being seen–truly seen–in a world that often fails to understand the battles they’re still fighting. It’s knowing that someone out there believes their story isn’t over. That their service, their suffering, and their humanity matter.
And for those who give? It is an invitation to step into purpose. To align your values with your impact. To play a part in rewriting someone’s story at the exact moment they need it.
This Is Our Mission. Will You Join Us?
Veterans deserve more than thank-you-for-your-service.
They deserve healing.
They deserve access to the most effective tools available.
They deserve to be here–to live, to reconnect, to rediscover themselves, to thrive.
But we cannot do this alone.
So as you look ahead to the impact you want to make this season, consider the question we ask ourselves every day: What if your greatest gift isn’t something you give to someone you know, but someone whose life may depend on it?
That is the power of giving.
And it begins with you.
Help a veteran find their way back to life.