ORGANIZATIONS WE SUPPORT

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE has developed a series of deep, mutually beneficial, and constructive working relationships with a series of organizations with whom we feel proud to be associated.

Please find information below about these organizations, their missions and our cooperation with them.

Operation Gratitude

Hundreds of thousands of American Service Members are deployed in hostile and remote regions of the world, including the Middle East, Afghanistan, and on ships throughout international waters. The physical conditions they must endure are difficult and they may be separated from loved ones for long periods of time. OPERATION GRATITUDE seeks to lift morale and put smiles on faces by sending care packages addressed to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed overseas. OPERATION GRATITUDE care packages contain food, hygiene products, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

Through Collection Drives, Letter Writing Campaigns and Donations of funds for shipping expenses,OPERATION GRATITUDE provides civilians anywhere in America a way to express their respect and appreciation to the men and women of the U.S. Military in an active, hands-on manner.

OPERATION GRATITUDE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, volunteer corporation, funded entirely by private donations. For safety and security, the assembling of all packages occurs at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, California.

(Operation Gratitude)

United Warrior Survivor Foundation

The United Warrior Survivor Foundation is another FREEDOM IS NOT FREE proud partner. Co-founders Nick Rocha and Eric Knirk saw an important void that needed desperately to be filled. And hence, the establishment of The United Warrior Survivor Foundation (UWSF), an organization committed to providing Survivor Transition Assistance to surviving spouses of Special Operations personnel from the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps killed in the line of duty since 9/11/2001.

UWSF provides much needed financial assistance, financial guidance and planning support along with college scholarship grants, educational counseling, professional bereavement counseling, and peer-to-peer mentorship to the spouses, based on need. UWSF also covers the basic Medical Insurance for those spouses who have gone over the three year mark since their husbands’ death and lose their family's medical coverage.

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE had the pleasure of working closely with the staff of UWSF on the planning and execution of their annual Peer-to-Peer conference held in San Diego in 2006. The event brought a group of UWSF widows and their children to San Diego for a series of relevant educational events, lectures and support programs which (based on the lovely “thank you” notes we subsequently received from the participants) were greatly valued and appreciated. (http://www.frogfriends.com)

Military Severely Injured Center

Military Severely Injured Center, a service of the Department of Defense’s Military OneSource Program, was established as a 24/7 family support service. The Military Severely Injured Center (MSI Center) is dedicated to providing seamless, centralized support -- for as long as it may take -- to make sure that injured service members and their families achieve the highest level of functioning and quality of life. Services are provided to severely injured service members or the family member of a severely injured service member. The dedicated staff at the MSI Center can help cut red tape; understand what benefits are available and help to get them; identify resources; and obtain counseling, information, and support.

Injured service members and their families can call MSI Center around the clock for this free service. A care manager provides personal, ongoing assistance related to: financial resources; education, training, and job placement; information on VA benefits and other entitlements; home, transportation, and workplace accommodations; personal, couple, and family issues counseling; personal mobility and functioning.

The MSI Center coordinates closely with each service branch's injured support program -- Army Wounded Warrior Program, Marine for Life Injured Support, Air Force Palace HART, and Navy Safe Harbor.

The MSI Center provides educational materials that can help families understand and tackle issues related to concerns that injured service members often have, from helping children and spouses with the challenges they face, to concerns about making homes and vehicles accessible, to building new relationships. They also provide a Career Center that supplements their career planning services, including employment and benefits information for both injured service members and their spouses.

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE has been privileged to work directly with three of The MSI Center’s professional, caring, and dedicated care managers. Each manager has an ever-growing list of severely wounded service members and families with whom they interact regularly and attend tirelessly to their specific and personal needs. We are honored to have played a part in resolving issues of concern to specific severely injured service members and their families through our support of the MSI Center and hope to continue to be able to do so in the future as the needs arise. (http://www.militaryonesource.com/skins/MOS/home.aspx)

Additional non profit organizations that support the troops: