Madison Rotary donates to Still Serving Veterans

Shannon Drake with Still Serving Veterans accepts a donation from Tim Stone with Rotary Club of Madison. Other Rotarians in the photo are all veterans. The Madison club has about 25 veterans on its membership roster. (RECORD PHOTO/ALAN BROWN)

MADISON – Rotary Club of Madison is continuing its tradition of endorsing the military community with a recent donation to Still Serving Veterans (SSV).

“We value Still Serving Veterans’ mission. Rotary also gave to them last year,” Tim Stone said. Stone is a past president of Rotary and currently serves as sergeant-at-arms. “We currently have about 25 veterans in the club out of 67 members.”

Previously, Madison Rotarians selected “Veteran of the Year.” “This year, we wanted to move away from that process. All nominations for the past have been tremendous. We felt it was better to sponsor ‘Veteran of the Week’ in ‘The Madison Record’ and give a check on behalf of all Madison’s veterans,” Stone said.

Shannon Drake, SSV Director of Community Relations and Outreach, accepted the $1,000 donation. “We were humbled and honored that they would select Still Serving Veterans as the charity of choice for their donation in honor of veterans,” Drake said.

SSV will use the funds for programs and services to help with “Veterans Administration benefits and counseling sessions, which are given at no charge to our veterans,” Drake said.

SSV works within three main areas of counseling: veteran employment services; veteran benefits and claims advocacy; and veteran resources networking.

Headquartered in Huntsville, SSV is a veteran service organization that empowers veterans and their families to optimally transition into meaningful new careers and post-military lives with benefits and services they have earned, Drake said. Founded in 2006, SSV has served more than 16,000 veterans nationally.

Since 2007, SSV has secured more than $202 million in cumulative additional benefits, services and salaries. SSV received the 2014 Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Ethics and the 2015 Nonprofit of the Year from both Huntsville and Madison chambers of commerce.

SSV opened a Phenix City office in 2013 and a Birmingham office in 2015.

“Our veterans know when they come through the doors of SSV, we’re going to help,” Drake said. “We’re not about 1-800 numbers or websites but caring and compassionate counselors that will stand by their side every step of the way during this life transition.”

SSV’s address is 626 Clinton St., Suite 200 in Huntsville. For more information, call 256-883-7035 or visit stillservingveterans.org.