Eliminate isolation
Eliminate suicide
Using humor and camaraderie, we will improve the veteran outlook.
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We rely on veterans who want to make a difference in their local community to volunteer to be local IW coordinators. Once your application is accepted, we provide all the training, direction, and support that it takes to ensure the event is a success. Click here to fill out an application or send an email to [email protected].
Nope. Our hikes are not meant to test your fitness. These are inclusive events for veterans attended by boots, salty ole vets, and everyone in between. They are meant to bring veterans together where they can hang out, meet some new friends, get some fresh air, and light activity. We have our motivators, but most of us will be strolling along at around 3 miles an hour and enjoying ourselves.
Nope. We have hundreds of alternate events that occur across the country during the year. These events include pre-hike meet and greets, river floats, cruises, BBQs, and sporting events. The majority of these events are open to friends and family members. Check out your local IW social media group for more information.
Our Silkies Hikes are for veterans, active duty, and reservists only. Maintaining an exclusively veteran element allows our hikers to open up and be themselves in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise. There is camaraderie born from the shared experience of military service that provides the opportunity for unconventional therapy difficult to find anywhere else.
We LOVE civilian support! Some of our events are more inclusive, but we have volunteer opportunities at most veteran-only events. Register as a volunteer, and you can come on out and help set up, drive a safety vehicle, cheer them on along the way, or hand out water at stops!
We ask you to leave the kids at home for several reasons. The legal basis is “it’s an insurance thing.” Our hikes are permitted and insured, and our policy stipulates that minors cannot participate or be present in the moving element. The more common-sense reason is that the conditions involved with these events (weather, duration, bar stops, bathroom situation) are often not very child-friendly. Most importantly, our hikes are intended to promote conversation and connection and encourage people to “drop their walls” and be themselves around people who “get it.” Having children in the element can inhibit this process for both the parent and other participants.
Nope. Wear whatever you are comfortable in – within reason. We have some veterans show up in silkies and others in jeans and a t-shirt.
Maybe! For safety and liability reasons, we allow service dogs only. This means that your dog has been trained to provide a service related to your disability. Service animals are working animals – not pets. We will have all dog handlers sign a waiver that states the dog is a qualified service animal and acknowledges their responsibility for its actions. We cannot accept the liability of caring for your service animal. Irreverent Warriors volunteers/vehicles legally cannot and will not watch/take care of your service animal.
The simple answer – to the IW mission! To receive an “A” rating, a charity must spend 80% of their funds on their mission with only 20% being used for overhead – we far exceed those expectations! As reflected in our 990 filed with the IRS, our fundraising to mission ratio over the past three years reflects over 90% goes back to the mission. Every hike is permitted and insured, and many include law enforcement escort, so we must allocate funds for these expenses at a bare minimum. Each hike also conducts fundraising for water, medical supplies, equipment, and food. NO FUNDS ARE SPENT ON ALCOHOL!
Maybe! Donny is a very busy man, and his availability often depends on his filming and production schedule at VetTV.
Have more questions? Visit our full FAQs page.
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TOGETHER WE’RE UNBREAKABLE
