Veterans Off-Grid awarded $50,000 grant

Veterans Off-Grid, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping

those who served abroad live a sustainable, off-grid lifestyle, recently received a $50,000 grant

from Taos Behavioral Health and hopes to use that money to expand in 2022.

The Carson-based organization has been working to help veterans attain mental and physical stability through sustainable building and farming since 2017 and plans

to use the money to complete a buildout of an outdoor kitchen, construction of a new 400-squarefoot Earthship and a new meeting room with space for yoga, reiki and group events.

Jennifer Ammann, Veterans OffGrid’s Director of Operations, said that surprisingly, the grant wasn’t

something they pursued, but rather came to them. “Taos Behavioral Health simply came to us with the offer. They wanted to donate to our project,” she said. “It was like our fairy godmother showed up just before the end of the year.”

Veterans Off-Grid Founder and Executive Director Ryan Timmermans said he had been in contact with Taos Behavioral Health through their Chief Executive Officer Simon Torrez about ways

to help Taos’ veteran population. Torrez, who served as a Navy Seal,

said he was happy to help out the Carson nonprofit with which his vision aligned.

“Taos Behavioral Health is proud to aid in helping Veterans Off-Grid achieve its mission of providing

sustainable housing, healing, and education to those in need,” said Torrez. “The continued growth of

the veteran centered and community based operations of VOG is very much in line with our organization’s own missions.”

Timmermans said he was “shocked and honored” when he

heard the news from Torrez. “He called us out of the blue and, and was just like, ‘We’ve been blessed,

so we want to bless you as well.’ ” Timmermans also agreed that the

goals of Taos Behavioral Health and Veterans Off-Grid were aligned, and said he likes “the fact that nonprofits are starting to work together instead of competing with each other.”

Eric Martinez, the Outreach Coordinator for Veterans Off-Grid,

said the grant from Taos Behavioral Health has been a blessing for them. “It amplifies all the other

projects and all the other things

we were doing,” he said.

This includes shining a light on the ways in which they have

been helping veterans with mental

health. “We’re restoring purpose. We’re restoring dignity and restoring security to these veterans, me being one of them.”

Though the group has a number of projects they hope to see completed in the coming year, Ammann said they are being “extremely strategic” when it comes to how they spend the $50,000.

“When [money] comes in, we really, we come up with a very methodical plan for how to best maximize that funding in the moment toward all the projects,”

said Ammann. They also leverage other funding sources, and they

hope to use some of that other money to create a county-wide Yoga, Reiki, meditation breathing program for veterans.

However, with more money things begin to ramp up quickly. “It’s a really exciting time, but it’s

also very fast,” said Ammann. “We’re having to very quickly just be like, ‘Oh, okay, here we are, this is how we adjust,’ but we’re doing it and it’s exciting and fun.”