Feature of Month
Missouri ’ s Cannabis Community Helping Veterans Have a Home
Veterans Community Project helping veterans transition from homeless to a home .
Editorial by Clayton Stallings
Green Precision Analytics , one of the state ’ s busiest and most well-known cannabis testing labs , along with CLOVR Cannabis company , Missouri ’ s largest cannabis manufacturing facility , hosted its Second Annual Green CLOVR Golf Tournament on June 5 as a fundraiser for Veterans Community Project ( VCP ). VCP , based in Kansas City , MO , is commonly known for its tiny house village for Veterans experiencing homelessness . I discovered it is much more .
First , a personal note , I normally wouldn ’ t bring my personal life into reporting a story for The EVOLUTION Magazine , but I think , in this case , it really helps to understand this story about VCP . to the local cannabis community ’ s fundraising efforts . This article updates what I last reported on VCP a year ago in the June 2022 issue of The EVOLUTION Magazine ( see that issue on our website ’ s past issues page ).
A few weeks before this year ’ s tournament , not only did my mother pass away , but on the morning of my mother ’ s funeral , my sisterin-law passed away . Back-to-back funerals , with the second just a week before the golf tournament , made it difficult for me to get back into the swing of things . Nevertheless , I decided to proceed forward and participate in the tournament . I also decided to be open and honest with my teammates / guests about what I was going through during our conversations — just in case my golf game was ugly ; I would have a legitimate reason for it . It turned out to be the best decision I made that day .
Before we even got to our first hole of the tournament , Vinny , a veteran , was already sharing stories of losing comrades / best friends he was side-by-side with as his platoon got ambushed . We hadn ’ t even started playing golf yet , and my problems were immediately brought into a new perspective through wonderfully transparent conversations about grief , loss , and related depression . Additionally , Trace ’ s non-profit , The Battle Within , ( which VCP has recently partnered with ) helps not only veterans with those conversations but also first responders , law enforcement , and EMTs .
Our Green CLOVR Golf Tournament team photo ( L-R ) Clayton Stallings , Vince Morales , Chris Admire , Anthony David , Trace McConnell , and Josh Mitchem . My teammates were , Vince , Chris , and Trace . Anthony and Josh joined us for the photo . We hit a few good shots and had a fun day on the course for a great cause .
Several months ago , I signed up to play in the Green CLOVR Golf Tournament . To play on our team , I invited the co-founder of VCP , Vincent ( Vinny ) Morales , Executive Director Chris Admire , and Trace McConnell , a board of directors member for another non-profit veteran organization called The Battle Within , for a day of fun . I also wanted their help to create this story for our readers to learn more about what VCP is doing for our local veterans — thanks , in part ,
I suddenly realized that I had three of the best “ psychologists ” in the veteran sense that money could buy , and for full day of golf — or at least that ’ s how it felt at the time . It also made me quickly realize that VCP is much , much more than just finding homes for veterans in need .
“ I give requests for tours of the tiny homes all the time to out-of-state groups who are interested in forming a similar project in their state , but more often than not , they don ’ t really see the amount of work that goes beyond just getting them off of the streets ,” Chris explained .
“ Our baseline assessment is to understand where each veteran is in their journey and how we can work with them to reach their goals ,” Vinny chimed in . “ From there , the veteran will work with their case manager to build a housing plan suitable to them . We do not take a one-size-fits-all approach to our case management planning . When veterans are vested in the goals that they have created is when you will see success .”
36 JULY 2023