Connecting with the military community through live performance and literacy

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paws-effect.org

What is your idea to address an unmet need of service members, veterans and their families?

Paws & Effect, in collaboration with select cast members of War Horse, will host a children's book reading and live performance event. This event will occur at the Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge, Iowa, providing an opportunity for military families to gather in a unique, military related event. Following this event, families will be encouraged to attend the matinee performance of War Horse at the Des Moines Civic Center. War Horse cast members will read aloud to children from select books that incorporate animals and combat including Scuttlebutt Goes to War, 14 Cows for America and Klinger. Musicians from the War Horse cast will bring song and verse to this event, encouraging audience participation.

What specific population do you plan to work with? What is their unmet need?

Iowa is unique in that there is no active duty military installation in the state. Camp Dodge serves as the most obvious physical presence that we have veterans in our community and state. Creating attractive opportunities for military families to gather with their children is difficult in a state where there are few military nonprofits to host such events. Integrating military members back into their families and into the community is one of the most challenging tasks resting upon a community today. A critical and ongoing task, unique events provide incentive and opportunity.

What is your implementation plan, and how would the $1,000 be used?

The critical infrastructure for this event has already been established. The Gold Star Museum will serve as the location, amidst relics of WWI and more recent wars. Cast members from War Horse have agreed to participate as book readers, musicians and performers. Paws & Effect will help promote the event within its membership and assist in coordinating the actual event.

The $1,000 will help offset the costs associated with the acquisition of books to be read as well as transportation for the cast members of War Horse. The additional funds will be utilized to substantially reduce the cost of tickets to the matinee performance of War Horse from $75 to $25 per ticket.

How are volunteers the key ingredient to your solution?

Paws & Effect's volunteers have provided the core of relationships between veterans and their respective communities many times over. Paws & Effect volunteers raise service dogs for service members with combat acquired PTSD or mobility impairments. The volunteers, some of whom are military members themselves, have experiences that allow them to flow effortlessly between the two demographics. This event, one that promotes the human animal bond both in and after combat, is directly aligned with Paws & Effect's primary mission. Its volunteers, in the planning, hosting and replication of this event, add the spirit and meaning necessary to successfully reintegrate service members into their communities.

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