Military Veterans Who Empower Communities to Visit Westminster College

Combing city streets at 2:30 a.m. to find and help homeless veterans, building community gardens, mentoring young people, constructing homes … The Mission Continues (TMC) organization gives military veterans returning to civilian life a new purpose through service to their communities, and a team of those veterans will share their experiences through a public presentation, class visits, and interactions with student groups April 14-16 on the Westminster College campus in Fulton, MO as a part of the College’s Global Leader-in-Residence program.

The Global Leader-in-Residence program brings leaders to campus to discuss their efforts to make a difference in the world.  This campus visit is being coordinated by the Emerson Center for Leadership & Service.

The Mission Continues team members will hold a free public presentation at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, in the Lecture Hall of the Coulter Science Center.  In their presentation they will talk about their military experiences, the challenges of returning home and how The Mission Continues helps them with this transition.

The three team members of TMC visiting campus as a part of the College’s Global Leaders-in- Residence program are:

• Steve Wahle-Fellowship Program Specialist with the Veterans Curation Program for TMC who was a Marine Corps Combat Infantryman with service in Afghanistan and is currently working on a master degree in social work at St. Louis University;
•  Tim Smith-Fellow who was an Army Sergeant with service in Iraq, holds a master’s degree in social work from Washington University, worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and is now the owner of Patriot Commercial Cleaning, hiring veterans members and family members of veterans to clean office space and schools; and
• Orion Foeller-Fellow who served in the Navy with numerous sea deployments, worked as a Fellow at the St. Louis Science Center and today is employed in information technology at Build-A-Bear Workshop and is finishing a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems at St. Louis University.

Westminster student veterans will be one of the hosts of the TMC team during their visit.

TMC was founded by CEO Eric Greitens who decided to find a way veterans could continue to serve after visiting wounded Marines at Bethesda Navy Hospital when he returned from Iraq as a Navy SEAL. Greitens used his own combat pay and the military disability checks of two friends to found the organization.

Today TMC empowers veterans to serve their country in new ways as Fellows to volunteer with non-profit organizations in their communities or as a Service Platoon, which is a team of veterans that comes in to build stronger communities and tackle pressing issues these communities are facing.

Fellows must take a three-day Orientation training and then are placed in a local nonprofit organization in their communities to work 20 hours a week for 26 weeks.

Each Fellow works to achieve a post-fellowship goal of full time employment and/or pursuit of higher education while maintain a permanent role of public service.  Their projects bridge the military-civilian divide, allow veterans to feel more connected to their communities and help civilians gain a better understanding of and appreciation for the men and women in uniform.