Nation's First-Of-Its-Kind Veterans Organization Awards Samaritan Village, Grace After Fire and Loyola Recovery Foundation with Inaugural Round of Grants

New York, NY (November 12, 2010)

The Veterans Healing Initiative (VHI) announced today that Samaritan Village of New York, Grace After Fire and Loyola Recovery Foundation will receive funding from the organization's inaugural round of grants. Each program was selected based on a comprehensive review process by the VHI board that included clinical evaluations, site visits and an analysis of the programs effectiveness based on the outcomes of both male and female veteran patients.

New York, NY (November 12, 2010) The Veterans Healing Initiative (VHI) announced today that Samaritan Village of New York, Grace After Fire and Loyola Recovery Foundation will receive funding from the organization's inaugural round of grants. Each program was selected based on a comprehensive review process by the VHI board that included clinical evaluations, site visits and an analysis of the programs effectiveness based on the outcomes of both male and female veteran patients. "The need for immediate and comprehensive treatment programs for veterans that address both substance abuse and co-occurring trauma, including sexual trauma, is unprecedented," said VHI Chairman and Co-Founder Margaret Stone. "It is with great pleasure that we can support these three organizations whose hard work and dedication bring hundreds of veterans’ one step closer towards healing from these profound and invisible wounds of war."

VHI is the nation's first and only charitable organization dedicated solely to providing independent financial support for veterans seeking treatment for substance abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Samaritan Village, a residential, four-phase, therapeutic community based in New York that provides dual-diagnosis treatment and a continuum of care; Grace After Fire, a national organization serving female veterans of all eras for the treatment of PTSD, addiction, and military sexual trauma; and Loyola Recovery Foundation, an addiction recovery center partnering with the Veterans Administration (VA) in New York State, all provide programs and services in alignment with the VHI mission. Ms. Stone continued, "The level and intensity of physiological and psychological stressors our men and women have endured overseas - and continue to struggle with back home - are staggering. Government programs are operating beyond capacity and a significant number of our vets don't know where to turn for help. Veterans Healing Initiative is committed to doing everything it can to provide veterans with access to treatment programs, regardless of economic, geographic or military status."

For additional information on VHI, including information on programs and grant eligibility, you can visit the organization's Web site at http://www.vetshealing.org. Media Contact: Suzanne Bronski, Phil & Co., suzanne@philandcompany.com, 212-905-3238 or Marissa Dwyer, Phil & Co., marissa@philandcompany.com, 212-905-3435