The term Volunteer State began being applied to Tennessee in 1812, when a group of volunteers served so valiantly under General Andrew Jackson, during the Battle of New Orleans. Again when a small group of Texans were fighting the Mexican army, volunteers went with Davy Crockett and gave their lives at the Alamo, to help defend freedom.

Recently, during 9-1-1 volunteers from Tennessee went to New York to assist, with whatever they could, from food, clothing, money, even donating their blood to help. Whenever there are people in need, The Tennessee Volunteers are there to help. This is where we get the name for our organization.

We are a group of U.S. armed forces veterans who were recently serving an internship at the Tennessee State Senate, and House of Representatives. We were in the thirty-fifth anniversary class or that program, which represents schools from all over Tennessee. We had a wide variety of schools, interests as well as military service. We had veterans from various branches of the armed forces who served in during Viet Nam, Iran, Iraq, and Bosnia.

We decided to start some kind of tribute to the veterans who had served our country and our state of Tennessee in particular. We decided that the six of us would be founding members and have the project carried on by the veterans who come after us in the Legislative Intern Program each year. During the research for this project, I was approached by Don Samuels, the Vice Chairman of Veteran's Affairs who asked me about researching a memorial wall for the Tennessee veterans who had been lost since Vietnam. I agreed and added it to my research.

I was serving in the office of Senator Rusty Crowe (R) 3rd district and while taking calls from his constituents, I learned that East Tennessee had suffered a freeze, and even though it was declared a disaster area and qualified for state assistance, before the aid arrived the same area was in a drought. I thought, what better tribute for the veterans who gave so much for Tennessee than to assist the state that they loved. And so the idea for a Tennessee Disaster Relief Fund was born.

There are three points to The Tennessee Volunteers program:

• 1.To assist local veteran programs, as well as direct assistance to veterans and their families.
• 2.The Tennessee Disaster Relief Fund to assist any area in Tennessee that is affected by any type of disaster.
• 3.To establish a memorial wall at the War Memorial Building in Nashville, honoring those who have been lost in the three decades since Viet Nam.

Thank you for your continued support,
Garry L. Thomas
Colonel Aide de Camp

October 2007

OSDN Must Move!


OSDN became a full-time agency in 1999 with tremendous support from the City of Nashville and its public housing department, MDHA. We are currently located in an older building that is set to be remodeled. As part of the remodeling, MDHA will put in a medical clinic where we currently have our downstairs offices and return our current upstairs offices to apartments. They have asked us to move before September 30, 2008. The OSDN Board of Directors is actively seeking our own Service Center location so that we can continue our current services to veterans as well as be able to expand services for future veterans. For more information on OSDN and our services for veterans, please visit our website at www.osdnashville.org or at www.GivingMatters.com.

The OSDN Board of Directors has set a goal to be in our own Service Center by mid-summer 2008. Toward that end we are asking your help in locating a suitable space. Our basic needs:

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• a minimum of 7,000 square feet of office space with at least 30 parking spaces
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• on a major bus line
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• in an area bounded by downtown, I-440, the VA Hospital and Murfreesboro Road


We also need your financial support to make this happen. We estimate $1,000,000 is needed to purchase, move and renovate. We would like to name the Service Center in honor of a very special person! If you know of a special donor who has the means to provide for a Veterans Service Center, please contact me. We plan to honor all who provide financial support for our new Service Center by creating a Hall of Heroes where donors will be honored as follows:

• Gold Level $5,000 or more donors will have a special plaque with their picture or that of an honoree mounted in the Service Center.
• Silver Level $1,000 or more donors will have their name or that of an honoree inscribed on a brick to be used to build our Hall of Heroes.
• Bronze Level $100 or more donors will have their name or that of an honoree mounted on a plaque to be mounted in the Service Center.

Contact me for special acknowledgement of donations above the Gold level or for sponsorship options. If you know of a location that might be a good fit for OSDN or if you want to get involved helping OSDN in this, please contact me directly at (615) 321-3919.

Thank you for your continued support,
Bill

William J. Burleigh
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, Retired
Executive Director


"Since 1993, helping the community reestablish ties with its veterans"

NOTE:The Tennessee Volunteers supports the OSDN. Get a free membership and do your online shopping at the Volunteers' online mall and help fulfill this important need. Your donations from your Volunteers donation account will qualify you for the above levels of recognition if you reach them.

If you have any questions about our program, contact the Volunteers or us here at Bloomees.