Our Values

The VeteranShield Project^sm

...It's not about glory; it's about Their Story.

Our Values

         "We are American families, honoring American families."

    That simple phrase sums up our values and our committment to serve democratic ideals.

    Those values are our guiding light. They impel us to strive to always "do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons" throughout our organization. Those ethical standards also make it very easy for us to make our business decisions.

    Our people reflect those values in every way.

Our Volunteers:

    Even though we're just getting started, our small group of VeteranShield Volunteers are already the heart and soul of the VeteranShield Project. Currently, most are "virtual volunteers"; amateur digital artists from across the U.S. who work from their home studios to create the remarkable Veteran collages which are the centerpeice of every VeteranShield. Many are also Veterans or active-duty military family members. All are highly inspired, and incredibly inspiring in their committment to our mission.  Our Volunteer artists consider every VeteranShield collage they create to be a true and lasting "PDA"; that is, a sincere public display of affection for a Veteran -- and a true personal expression of love, honor, and respect.

    All of our Volunteers have personally committed to funding and creating at least one VeteranShield. And, as proud VeteranShield Guardians themselves, they're strongly committed to growing the VeteranShield Project across our nation. They can't wait to display their new VeteranShields outside their home over the Memorial and Veterans Day holidays, and are eagerly looking forward to early 2010, when the first production VeteranShields will roll off the line!

    Not only are our Volunteers some of the most artistic, interesting, patriotic and talented people you'll ever meet, they continue to study and train hard to enable them to quickly and easily create the perfect digital collage to tell every Veteran's unique story.

    You'll find yourself being astounded at just how fast they're able to assemble the assorted photos and memorabilia of your Veteran, gently ask you (by phone or email) a few follow-up questions to learn the full story behind those images, and then quickly and easily produce a stunning high-definition digital collage that will delight and amaze your family and friends.

    In the near future, we're planning for other skilled Volunteers to work in the scanning, printing, and assembly departments in our pilot Sacramento workshop, with the support and guidance of our staff advisors.  Only through their continued research, hard work and committment will our nonprofit organization be able to grow our operations to the point where we can meet our projected demand, by establishing additional VeteranShield Volunteer workshops in communities across our nation.

    Thanks to our group of Volunteers, we're able to focus our full effort on achieving the goal of consistently providing the finest specialized high-resolution scanning and wide-format printing services available, and the manufacturing, assembly and shipping of the highest-quality VeteranShields possible.

    All of our valuable and dedicated Volunteers work closely together in collective action and collaborative production, to keep our costs to an absolute minimum while delivering the best results. Their efforts ensure that the maximum amount of each donation is made available to support the valuable auxillary Veteran programs dependent on the long-term success of the VeteranShield Project and our programs.

Our Advisors:

    Wherever possible, we plan to hire, train and employ formerly homeless Veterans, disabled Veterans, and Veteran family members as Advisors to our part-time Volunteers. To truly understand the depth of our committment to this policy, please take a moment to learn more about our long-term goals.

    As regards employing vets with disabilities as Advisors, we understand and appreciate that any small extra costs incurred in accomodating for special work-related needs will be more than returned to us in the high degree of loyalty and leadership skills that those military Veterans bring to their work.

Our Commitment:

    Finally, we believe in the value of creating a totally not-for-profit and publicly supportive environment for the VeteranShield membership to properly honor our Veterans on their sacred holidays.

    Therefore, even though a major goal of the VeteranShield organization is to actively raise the public consciousness of our Veteran's sacrifices by encouraging a more public celebration and popular observance of the Veterans Day and Memorial Day holidays, we wish to completely avoid the unseemly stigma of corporate commercialization that has overtaken most American holidays.  That's also why we're a registerd 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, because we're 100% committed to using all of the revenues generated through the VeteranShield Project to directly aid and support disabled and homeless Veterans and their families.

    Besides, we know that it's just the right thing to do. And that's what we're all about.

The Virtual Volunteer Program

To support the introduction of the VeteranShield Project, we are currently looking for a number of part-time Virtual Volunteers willing to help us out by designing individual VeteranShield collages, while working remotely from their home studio or office. If you're a dedicated digital scrapper, amateur digital collage artist, or digital designer who is also willing to make a serious committment* to supporting our nonprofit mission, we'd love to hear from you, no matter where you live in the U.S. All volunteers will receive full recognition and standard compensation** for expenses. This volunteer project is ideal for any designers or digital collage artists who desire to work from their home studio, or to assist others within their communities, and also receive recognition for their efforts at local VeteranShield meetups, designer and artist parties, events and National Conventions. Please contact us at info@veteranshield.org for further information.

*NOTE: "serious committment" to us means that, at a minimum, a volunteer is willing to first commit to becoming a full supporting member of the VeteranShield Project, by: A) funding and creating a VeteranShield to honor a Veteran in your family or community, to serve as an example of your personal values and design skills, and B) agreeing to annually display that Veteranshield in your hometown over the Memorial Day and Veterans Day holidays.

**NOTE: "standard compensation" rate for volunteer expenses is a minimum of $25.00 per completed collage, unless otherwise agreed upon in advance.