Nonprofit Spotlight: Give An Hour


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In honor of Veterans day in November 2021, PennyLoafer donors collectively donated to Give An Hour!

The Rundown

  • Years founded: 2005

  • Leadership: Founder, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, is a clinical psychologist. She led a White House Task Force to address veteran suicide and was named one of TIME’s 2012 list of most influential people in the world.

  • Issue they address: veteran mental health and lack of access to care.

  • What they do: provide free mental health services to active service members, veterans, and their families, as well as other at-risk populations.

  • How they do it:

    • Organize a large network of volunteer mental health professionals.

    • Connect people in need of confidential counseling with providers across the country (telephone + videoconferencing also available).

    • Lead national campaigns, such as Change Direction, to reduce stigma and change the culture around mental health.

    • Provide trainings, resources and education around mental health and wellness.

Why they were chosen

Give An Hour removes barriers to mental health care. They’ve provided over 340K hours of free mental health services. They have 4,500 volunteer licensed mental health professionals, and recently integrated with a tele-health platform to be able to serve more people. Both the org and its leadership have been recognized nationally for their work with veterans; and several staff members (including the new CEO) are military spouses or veterans themselves.

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🇺🇸 President Biden recently noted, “our one truly sacred obligation is to properly equip our women and men in uniform when we send them into harm’s way, and to care for them and their families when they return.”

😔 Yet, suicide rates among active service members and veterans are staggering.

📋 The Biden administration recently outlined 5 priorities to reduce suicide rates among this population, including access and delivery of effective care and improving lethal means safety.

If you enjoyed this and want to get involved, you can support the Mental Health cause on PennyLoafer, starting with as little as $5/month. Each month, you’ll support and learn about a different nonprofit working to make the world a healthier place.