Veterans Program
Our Veterans program removes barriers and provides services that deliver equitable opportunities to empower Indigeneous veterans, service members, and their families to achieve their greatest potential. Unkitawa is one of the King County Veterans Program’s (KCVP) key partners providing Native American pathfinding for Native Americans experiencing hardship in King County.
Veteran services include,
- Spiritual and Cultural Connection
- Crafting
- Employment
- Other supportive services
John Romaro, center, Director and Veteran, receives honorary quilt.
Monthly Events
We host three – five community outreach, veteran outreach, and cultural events every month. Cultural events include making drums, belts, and paddles, and drumming circles. Our Folk Life and Veteran Homecoming events are central to the Native American tradition of honoring our veterans and warriors who come home from battle.
Veterans Canoe
Our veterans program is building a canoe for the annual Canoe Journey. This canoe is more durable and broader (wider) than other canoes, making it safer and less likely to tip. It has space for elders, families with kids, and people with disabilities.
You can help! Donations pay for canoe materials, supplies, and more.
Akichita Veteran Warriors Program
The Akichita Veteran Warriors Program supports our community of native veterans. We focus on our native elder veterans who served in Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf War, the OIF, and the OEF eras.
Help with Community Resources
We provide resources for our veterans in their communities, i.e., assistance with legal issues, filing VA compensation claims, and helping them get medical and mental health care at the VA Medical Center.
Financial Assistance
Recently, we gave veterans rental assistance and paid move-in costs for new housing for a few of our homeless veterans. The King County Veterans Program provided some of the funding.
Heart-Warming Support
Other endeavors include purchasing household goods for the newly homed veterans, distributing turkeys and pies to veteran families, assisting with Veteran PowWows, hosting a Veteran Appreciation Dinner, providing quarterly gift baskets and bags to our native elder veterans and active duty members stationed away from home, and providing Christmas gifts to single parent veterans and their children.
Sage/Sweet Grass Gifts
A gift of sage/ sweet grass “medicine” to keep our active duty members in touch with the Creator and to practice grounding and healing is so very important.
Recognition at our Vietnam Veterans PowWow
During our annual Vietnam Veterans PowWow, we recognized all of our veterans by sharing our appreciation and gifting native-designed blankets, challenge coins, and “medicine.”
How You Can Help
We have many future endeavors planned to continue helping our Veterans. We ask for your help by contributing to our organization. Please donate; any amount is appreciated.
Thank you!
Donations
We welcome donations to support our monthly events.
- Share your time and knowledge – teach how to make a cultural craft, or participate in community or veterans outreach
- Donate materials or food for projects or events
- Donate money for project, event, or outreach materials, supplies, or food
Photo Gallery
