Top

Battle Buddy Response Team

Nonprofit Organization

News

BBRT helps local Navy veteran

The spirit of Christmas was alive and well in Hagerstown, Md., on Saturday December 19, 2020  when a few dozen volunteers and companies like; Labors Office Furniture out of Hagerstown MD, Alpha Pro Flooring, Coca-Cola out of Hagerstown MD, Troop 58 out of Boonsboro MD, Lowe’s in Waynesboro PA and in Hagerstown MD,  American Metal Roofing out of Mansfield Ohio, pitched in to help a local Navy veteran.

Thanks to the efforts of the Battle Buddy Response Team (BBRT) to organize the event, the veteran has new and improved living conditions including new flooring and decking. An electrical upgrade and new hot water heater were completed at an earlier time.

To top off the very successful weekend, BBRT raised money to purchase the veteran a new stove on December 20, 2020.

This is just one of many stories that shows the need that exists among veterans—and the quick response of the Battle Buddy Response Team. They do not have red tape to work through. As soon they receive a call for help, they jump into action and do whatever it takes to help.

BBRT is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing suicides among veterans and their families. Team Members are ready to deploy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year across the United States to perform welfare checks when a concerned party reaches out. 

Statistics show that an average of 22 veterans commit suicide every day, a staggering number that demonstrates the need for organizations like the Battle Buddy Response Team. The 501(c)(3) charity does not charge for its services, but relies solely on donations and sponsorships.

Please consider making a contribution so that the Battle Buddy Response Team can continue the work they do. All funding goes toward supporting veterans and helping to make their lives better.

Learn more through their website: https://battlebuddyresponseteam.org or call (855)777-BBRT.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

When shopping for Christmas gifts this season, please keep Battle Buddy Response Team in mind. There may be people on your list who would truly appreciate having a donation to Battle Buddy Response Team made in their name, rather than receiving a tangible gift. This is a perfect option for people who “have everything” or who want to pay back the men and women of our armed forces who are struggling during these difficult times.

Making a donation to Battle Buddy Response Team is a great way to show friends, family members, co-workers and even clients, that you are thinking about them during the holiday season. It also sends a message that you are mindful of the importance of caring for those who served.

Battle Buddy Response Team provides a number of valuable services to veterans and their families, ranging from help with mental health to advocating for better conditions. Team Members are ready to deploy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year across the United States to perform welfare checks when a concerned party reaches out. 

Our work has a powerful impact not only on the people that we work with directly, but on the entire community. It is only through the support of individuals and corporations like you that we are able to strengthen our programs and develop new ways to help our veterans.

On behalf of the members, staff, and volunteers at Battle Buddy Response Team, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest appreciation for your support, and wish you and yours a blessed and safe holiday.

Merry Christmas!

Giving Tuesday

The holiday season is upon us, but that doesn’t stop our veterans from needing the services of organizations like the Battle Buddy Response Team. 

We’re busy changing and improving lives, but we still need your help. 

Giving Tuesday is the perfect time to give the best gift of all—a donation so that we can continue to provide aid to veterans who have served and sacrificed for us.

With your help, we can continue to carry out our mission of ‘Stopping and Preventing All Veteran Suicides.’ 

The members of the Battle Buddy Response Team are ready to deploy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year across the United States to perform welfare checks when a concerned party reaches out. 

Learn more through their website: https://battlebuddyresponseteam.org or call (855)777-BBRT. The 501(c)(3) charity appreciates donations to cover their gas to travel when deploying a team. 

 

Make a donation, and use the hashtag #Thankful #GivingTuesday and #BattleBuddyResponseTeam

Gratitude For Our Service Members and Veterans

 

November is usually a month that everyone looks forward to as a time to give thanks, meet with family…and eat! With many of our family gatherings canceled or reduced this month due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, our celebrations will look different. However, we can still reflect on our blessings on this special day that was first set aside by George Washington.

When speaking of this country’s blessings during his radio address in 1988, Ronald Reagan mentioned “peace and abundance in this land that God has kissed.”

“We will give thanks for these and one thing more: our freedom. Yes, in America, freedom seems like the air around us: It’s there; it’s sweet, though we rarely give it a thought. Yet as the air fills our lungs, freedom fills our souls.”

No matter what our holiday looks like this year, we are still blessed by our freedoms. Among other things, Thanksgiving is a day we can pause to give gratitude to the men and women who serve or served to defend our way of life. 

Whatever your holiday looks like this year, we hope you can find many things for which to be thankful. And we wish you all a safe, blessed, and happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you!

This Thanksgiving, Battle Buddy Response Team is thankful for your support. 

With your help, we have traveled 42,860 miles and helped 184 veterans with everything from mental health and advocating, to just sitting and talking. In October, the Team rendered aid to a Navy veteran by securing him a new hot water heater and finding service providers to update his electrical and plumbing needs.

None of this would be possible without you.

We’re changing and improving lives, but we still need your help. 

This holiday season, we’re asking you to give the best gift of all—a donation so that we can continue to provide aid to veterans who have served and sacrificed for us.

Giving Tuesday on December 1 is the perfect time make a donation that will allow us to carry out our mission of ‘Stopping and Preventing All Veteran Suicides.’ With your support we can change lives and help improve the lives of veterans.

Battle Buddy Response Team Members are ready to deploy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year across the United States to perform welfare checks when a concerned party reaches out. 

Learn more through their website: https://battlebuddyresponseteam.org or call (855)777-BBRT. The 501(c)(3) charity appreciates donations to cover their gas to travel when deploying a team. 

 

 

The bill named for Hannon would provide about $174 million

In October, President Donald Trump signed into law a major piece of legislation aimed at preventing veteran suicide, including one major bill focused on improving veteran mental health care.

The omnibus bill is named for Cmdr. John Scott Hannon, a former leader of SEAL Team Two, member of SEAL Team Six and Special Operations and policy staff officer at U.S. Special Operations Command, who retired in 2012. Six years later, Hannon died of suicide after 23 years of service. 

VA data shows roughly 17 veterans and three service members die by suicide on average each day.

Hannon received treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, severe depression and bipolar disorder at the VA in Montana. He was committed to helping others while seeking his own recovery. Volunteering with the National Alliance for Mental Illness he spoke candidly at events about his wartime injuries.

The bill aims to improve mental health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs through several efforts, including grants to groups looking to help veterans outside VA.

Those efforts include: 

  • Grants to community organizations working to help veterans in crisis;
    • If veterans with other-than-honorable discharges are referred to VA by these organizations in the grant program, they may qualify for VA mental health services.
  • Ordering VA to study complementary and alternative care such as animal therapy, yoga, meditation, acupuncture and tai chi through a pilot program;
  • Studying expansion of care to all veterans with other-than-honorable discharges;
  • Transition assistance;
  • Hiring more suicide prevention coordinators for each VA medical center (at least one for each VA hospital);
  • Increasing access to VA telehealth locations for veterans who live in more rural or remote areas; 
  • Studying how VA manages its suicide prevention resources.

Some of those measures were inspired by what Hannon himself said helped him. 

The bill named for Hannon would provide about $174 million over five years for mental health care services, including the grant program for local organizations to provide help outside VA. 

The president also signed into law a bill that designates 988 as the universal telephone number of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system, making it easier for those in need of help to quickly dial the potentially lifesaving service.