Publisher's Corner
Guest Viewpoint
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Zero Suicide - Meet the Staten Island Military, Veteran, Family (SMVF) Task Force!
End Veteran Debt Ally ForgiveCo Earns Headlines with Wildfire Relief Debt Forgiveness
When ForgiveCo CEO Craig Antico recently earned headline $10 million in debt forgiveness for California wildfire victims, he demonstrated a model that End Veteran Debt and the Staten Island Service Member/Veteran and Families Taskforce (SMVF) will deploy in mid-December.
ForgiveCo is currently working with California-based Wescom Financial in a multiyear campaign to erase consumer debt for over 2,000 residents in fire-ravaged Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods. It is a "random act of kindness" approach, in that recipients needn’t be credit union members to receive relief.
"Debt is an extremely heavy burden on its own, but combining that with the need to recover from a natural disaster can make it all seem insurmountable," said Antico.
With EVD, not only ending debt, but reducing suicides
Debt is proven to lead to suicidal ideation, and the horrific act itself, with military and veteran suicide being twice that of their civilian neighbors. To bring public awareness of that issue, once again formed a partnership. Education was the first step.
In September, Antico spoke at End Veteran Debt's first micro-summit on veteran debt and suicide reduction to share their process of using funds donated through EVD, a 501(c)(3) private charitable foundation, to purchase debt, which is then erased.
“That solidified our approach to employing Craig’s expertise, understanding, and philosophy. This time, directed at another, vulnerable community in Staten Island: veterans and active-duty military personnel,” Ashton said.
“Few people understand the impact that crushing debt has on a population already burdened by homelessness, job and food insecurity, and family breakdown. By eliminating a sizeable amount of vet debt through the Staten Island campaign, this can serve as a template for eliminating veteran debt nationwide and encourage other veteran and civilian organizations to take action, he added.”
What better community goodwill can there be than improving, and in some cases literally saving, the lives of America's veterans?
