The Mission Continues: Connecting Veterans to a Sense of Community and Building Camaraderie
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A National Veteran Service Organization, The Mission Continues, is helping those who served connect with others and make an impact in their home community.
There are local levels which hold activities and work with local organizations to better the community.
The Mission Continues is all about creating community and connection. Whether that's connection to jobs, friendships, or resources within the community.
"Our main goal is to empower veterans to continue to serve after they get out of the service but to bring those skills they developed in the military to the local community to make an impact in the community," Colorado Springs Service Platoon Leader Tiffani Phillips said.
Tiffani develops the activities to be family friendly so volunteers can bring their kids along. She says this can be impactful for them too to learn what it means to serve their community.
Examples include work with The Guardians of Palmer Park and City of Colorado Springs. Such as trail work and trail maintenance to keep local trails open. As well as fire mitigation around the parks in the city in order to protect the neighborhoods around them.
"What I love about The Mission Continues and what it did for me because I'm a veteran myself is it teaches you how to grow roots," Phillips said. "The military is really good at teaching you how to pick up and move. For the mission here we teach you how to grow roots and connect in with your community."
Some volunteers end up going into careers in line with the work they do in The Mission Continues.
For example, some veterans gave gone on to careers in wildland firefighting or trail certification.
But the organization also has social events to make friends and connections.
“Sometimes what you don’t realize is when you leave the military, there’s that built in camaraderie and when you get out as a veteran, you have to seek it out," Phillips said. "It's not provided to you by the base any longer or your unit. So we create that for the veterans and help make those connections again.”
Leaders in the organization can also connect veterans to local veteran service organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Program. As they get to know their veterans, they get to know what their needs are to help steer them towards the resources that might be helpful for them.
The next event is on Nov. 17. Details on all upcoming events as well as information on how to get involved in the organization are available on their website.
