About.We are a South Dakota non-profit Corporation formed on February 11, 2018 whose mission is to bring the returning veterans back into society through job training, education, or just PTSD counseling. Founder Dave Gates discovered through personal experience when a Veteran feels like a member of the team, it raises his/her chances for survival.
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A New CharityVeteran's Helping Hands Project came into being when Dave Gates started to get some of his Vietnam PTSD back after 48 years of it being buried, causing Dave to rethink where he was headed in life. VHHP started as a non-profit aimed at education, etc., but this all changed when talking to the local VFW and Veteran's Affairs. He found that there was an 800 lb. gorilla in the room that was out of sight, pertaining to veterans being passed from one group to the next. Nobody had any finances to help veterans, or the need didn't fit the programs offered by that group. VHHP will be teaching veterans how to build homes for other veterans, and with every home sold, the profits will be returned to local organizations to help provide the funds necessary to better meet the needs of our veterans.
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Our GoalDave Gates has had a very popular outdoor TV show called Dakota Sportsmen TV which has aired on The Sportsman Channel, The Pursuit Channel, MidCo Sportsnet, streaming on The Hunt Channel, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, and OANTV.com. What VHHP wants to do is to present our case to the national audience for support and to start a National discussion about this situation going on across the nation. If we can stop one suicide from happening our reason for existence has been justified. We want to remake the show to be totally about the veterans and their plight by taking veterans on hunting, and fishing trips, plus taking the whole family on retreats.
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Our Team
Tawney Brunsch
Member-at-Large T: 605-685-9337 E: favre_pack4ever@hotmail.com Tawney Brunsch is the Executive Director of Lakota Funds, the first-ever Native community development financial institution (CDFI) on a reservation. Since becoming Executive Director of Lakota Funds in 2010, Tawney has led this financial institution through several more history-making accomplishments, including: . The charter of the Lakota Federal Credit Union, the first federally insured financial institution on the Pine Ridge Reservation since 1935. . The launch of a child development account program, a unique matched savings program for Kindergartners and 1st graders designed to build the family core, the first of its kind on any reservation in the nation. . The conversion that is currently underway of Eagle Nest Housing, a low-income tax credit housing development, into privately-owned homes. To date eight homes have been sold to low-income families at affordable prices. Tawney is a strong voice and advocate in Indian Country. She was the recipient of the 2018 Visionary Leader Award, recognizing her long-term contribution to the Native CDFI industry and local financing and asset building efforts that make her an inspiration for others. She was a founding board member for the Native CDFI Network, a national group that works to strengthen Native CDFIs, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, a Native CDFI dedicated to creating opportunities for homeownership on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She is the Chair of the Credit Committee for the Council for Native American Farmers and Ranchers and serves on the Federal Home Loan Bank's Advisory Council. Tawney is also actively involved with the South Dakota Native Home ownership Coalition, a group that is dedicated to increasing home ownership opportunities for Native families across the state. In an active leadership role, Tawney serves on the Coalition's Executive Committee, and Lakota Funds is the fiscal agent. She also chairs the Physical Issues Committee, which has several groundbreaking achievements under its belt, including building the capacity of Native building contractors, developing the trades workforce, increasing housing stock, and publishing educational materials on the leasehold process for the state's eight reservations. Tawney received her Bachelor's Degree in Commercial Economics from South Dakota State University and is certified as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Preparer. |
Dave Gates
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Myron Tatum
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Paul Rodriguez
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