Veterans in Media and Entertainment

[smotan_02]

Good Afternoon,
(Approval from Leon to post on main page)

I am the COO for a nonprofit called Veterans in Media and Entertainment (www.vmeconnect.org). Our charter is to offer a network to military veterans while also working with the entertainment industry to place more veterans in Hollywood; all of this with the expressed goal to change the current perception of military veterans from the inside (Hollywood overwhelmingly views them as "broken").

We hold an annual fundraiser in Los Angeles during the Army-Navy football game (December 8th) where military veterans and media and entertainment professionals watch the game, share a tasty beverage, and get to know each other. It is a sponsored event and all the funds go towards our Internship and Employment program. Last year we placed 51 veterans in internships or employment within the entertainment industry and we are on track to match it again this year (in fact we cant fill all the requests we get from the studios). We do all of this without a single paid employee, we are all volunteers. So this year we are working towards raising enough funds to get a paid employee in this position- with the goal to partner more qualified/hardworking veterans with great opportunities in the entertainment industry.

During the game we have a silent auction that focuses mainly on sports memorabilia. I have requests in with our local Los Angeles professional and college teams and I have donated some of my own items. My ask to the great members of this board is if they have any sports memorabilia they would be willing to donate for this cause? I would happily take anything that would be marketable to your average (read non-to-average collector) sports enthusiast.

EIN is available upon request and I will provide a 501(c)3 memo after the event that gives you a tax deduction for the value (plus shipping) of the item.

Please feel free to send me a note and thank you for your support.
(Go Army, Beat Navy)

Scotty
US Army Veteran