Veterans Ending the Stigma Post

Coffee, Comedy and Holistic Healing

Mission

• Provide a holistic healing veteran service organization that promotes health and well being over alcohol.

Problem:

• Veteran Service Organizations are having issues with membership because they are out of touch with the modern veteran .

• Younger veterans are going the holistic healing route for their therapies, however, access to these therapies is scarce and nonprofits have to hop from location to location while paying for excessive payments to lease spaces.

• Businesses can’t find reliable workers, while transitioning veterans face barriers of employment.

• Military transition training programs like TAPS and TGPS are job centric, not veteran centric, which can cause job instability and homelessness.

• Homeless Veterans do not have places that accept them in the winter, the cities and urban core.

• Some Veterans don’t want to use the VA due to trauma caused by the VA in the past and end up in debt in out of pocket expense to get medical and mental health care.

Solution

• A Veteran Service Organization assisting with VA Issues.

• Educates veterans about the holistic healing offerings of the VA and out in town options.

• Job-Service in multiple industries through assisting local businesses in creating DoD Skillbridge Programs.

• Host events for local non-profits including music, yoga, mindfulness and holistic therapies by filling the VA’s holistic healing program gaps in a private lounge for veterans.

Target Market

• Veteran in the city and surrounding areas

• Local Businesses with DoD Skillbridge Hiring Events

• Veteran Hiring Events

Competition

• AMVETS

• American Legion

• Veterans of Foreign War

• Disabled American Veterans

Products and Services

• Business Events

  • DoD Skillbridge Conferences

  • Hiring Events

  • Transitioning Veteran Events

• Private Club

  • Clubhouse for veterans to relax

  • Comedy Events that are both for veterans and ticketed sales

• Education

  • Holistic healing education

  • Nonprofit awareness

  • Financial Training

  • Yoga Therapies

• Non-alcoholic Drink sales

  • Coffee

  • Tea

  • Mud/Wtr

  • CBD Seltzer’s

  • Bottled Water

Equipment Costs

• Broken Down in separate sheet:

  • Drink Equipment

  • Renovations (Estimate based off quote and not itemized)

  • Seating

  • Speaker Equipment

    • Inside the building the speakers are still hanging from the ceiling when it was Vex Nightclub

  • Yoga Equipment

  • Computers

  • Printer

  • Point of Sale System

  • Phone Charging Stand

  • Podium

  • Locking Doorways for Clubhouse

Team

• Founder and CEO - Samuel Sussman

  • Sam’s background comes from the IT community. His experience working on the ServiceNow Platform has taught him program management at the 2022 pace. His technical background isn’t his only expertise, while he was at GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode he was the Veteran Engagement Manager building up DoD Skillbridge programs with the company he worked for and others like ServiceNow, SecureSet, and other companies in the tech field. His “Holistic Transition” approach is unlike other programs where he focuses on the veteran and personal happiness over chasing the financial rewards. This has led to over 150 successful transitions into careers that are what the veteran wanted to do but wasn’t trained by the military to do.

• Founder and Chief Operations Officer - Robert Kowalski

  • Robert Kowalski is the founder of Veterans Ending the Stigma. He leads the veteran voices of Ohio in advocacy around destigmatizing issues veterans face when getting out including homelessness, mental illness and cannabis as a medication. His work has helped countless veterans get access to resources regardless of financial situations.

Location

• Potential site for first location is 101 St. Clair Street, Dayton, Ohio

• Site is the former location of Club Pearl and Vex Nightclub

• Current Floorplan already has a stage set up and enough room for events, group therapies and a social lounge

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Financials

• Two Routes

  • Lease with purchase option

    • $200k for renovations to building

    • $100k for Equipment

    • $50k for 6 months operational expenses

  • Purchase

    • Same as above

    • $600k to purchase property

Investor Benefits

• TBD