1:1 Match up to $35,000 through December 31, 2024
MODERN WARRIOR LIVE 2024 HIGHLIGHTS
2024 has been an extraordinary year for Modern Warrior LIVE, and we are grateful for your support. With the launch of our new EXPERIENCE program, we’ve integrated our unique storytelling model to collaborate with our veteran community to share their personal stories, honoring their courage, sacrifice and resilience. Recognizing the universality of trauma, and championing the belief that every individual has the capacity for growth, resilience, and redemption, we have expanded our EXPERIENCE program to include stories of individuals who went through Veterans Treatment Courts, and others with lived experience in the criminal justice system. The powerful testimonials from participants and audience members underscore the urgent need to amplify more voices of trauma and resilience, and to normalize discussions about mental health, to reach people of all walks of life who need to hear that growth is possible.
This Giving Tuesday (a global day dedicated to charitable giving), and through the end of 2024, we invite you to watch these compelling stories and consider contributing to help us amplify even more voices in 2025.
EVERY DOLLAR RAISED HELPS US SHARE MORE IMPACTFUL STORIES. To underscore this, Al Sikes, our invaluable Vice-Chair of Modern Warrior LIVE, has pledged to match every dollar raised between now and December 31, 2024, up to $35,000, instantly doubling the impact of your contribution.
Thank you for your generosity and for standing with us to continue to empower, inform, connect and activate communities across the country.
Sincerely,
Dominick Farinacci & Jaymes Poling - Creators of Modern Warrior LIVE
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“The EXPERIENCE was therapy I needed. It was easier to talk through issues in this setting.”
-Cari Delgado, US Military Veteran
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“They know what they’re doing. When you deal with veterans’ pasts, you are touching a very sensitive area. This program should continue!”
-Walter Collins, US Military Veteran
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“I have never publicly spoke about my anxiety. I would highly recommend this program to anyone.”
-Jennifer Ballou, US Military Veteran
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“There were additional realizations I had the day of the EXPERIENCE about how much growth and wellness I had found since the trauma.”
-Nichole Coleman, US Military Veteran
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“This was a very healing experience for me. I was able to express much of what I had packed away in a small box in the back of my brain, because it was too painful to process.”
-Jane Roland, Veteran Service Officer
PERFORMANCE SPOTLIGHT
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LA County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
The Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, in conjunction with the LA County Fire Department and LA County Sheriffs, presented Modern Warrior LIVE at the historic Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
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California Police Chiefs Association
The California Police Chiefs Association Annual Training Conference hosted a keynote performance of Modern Warrior LIVE for 332 police chiefs throughout California. The Association’s leadership recognized an opportunity to use Modern Warrior LIVE to help reframe the conference messaging, advocating for a culture of law enforcement leading by example in normalizing the discussion about trauma to help reduce suicide within law enforcement.
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Department of Veterans Affairs / Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Conference: Reimagining Suicide Prevention
We were invited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Conference to present our Modern Warrior LIVE arts and storytelling model in Portland. Our presentation highlighted how this model empowers, connects, and mobilizes communities.
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Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center
Dominick was invited to speak at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for the AFAR Music Conference in D.C. about how we’ve built an integrative arts and mental health model through our EXPERIENCE program, and how that model is being expanded into a curriculum.
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BlueCross BlueShield
BlueCross BlueShield Veteran and Caregiver Resource Groups hosted Jaymes for a live screening in Washington D.C. The screening and subsequent conversation were live-streamed with their employees nationally to bring important conversations of trauma and resilience to the workplace.
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CareSource Military & Veterans
CareSource Military & Veterans for presented Modern Warrior LIVE at the historic National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The performance was followed by a post-show discussion with Dominick, Jaymes and Dayton VA Medical Center CEO Jennifer DeFrancesco, moderated by Air Force veteran Dr. Cassie Barlow, President of the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education. The evening and panel shared unique perspectives on the challenges veterans face when transitioning home from deployment, highlighting mental health, resilience, and the need for community support.
RECOGNITION
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“I admire what Dominick Farinacci and Jaymes Poling have created. The more of you engaging on this issue and restoring some balance in terms of characterizing our veterans as more than damaged goods can only be healthy for our vets, our armed forces recruiting, and our country."
- James Mattis
26th US Secretary of Defense
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“[Modern Warrior LIVE] will lift you up and blow you away.”
The Honorable Denis Richard McDonough
US Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2020 - present
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“Modern Warrior reminds veterans they are not victims and that they can use their experiences to grow and make significant contributions to society.”
The Honorable Anthony Principi
US Secretary of Veterans Affairs 2001-2005
NEW PARTNERSHIPS
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CareSource Military and Veterans
“Through art, music and storytelling, Modern Warrior LIVE gives a voice to veterans in a unique way that resonates with audience members. This performance is a catalyst for the conversation about mental health during and after service – a pillar of health care we are passionate about at CareSource Military & Veterans.”
- Selene Martin, Associate VP of Corporate Affairs, CareSource Military & Veterans
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USAA Face The Fight Coalition
We have recently been selected as a key partner for the USAA Face The Fight Coalition, a national multi-year campaign to combat veteran suicide. Other partners in the almost 150 member Coalition include Humana, CVS Health, VFW, Wounded Warrior Project, and other prominent organizations.
WORK & REENTRY
We partnered with Towards Employment to create the Modern Warrior EXPERIENCE: Work & Reentry program, sharing stories of individuals with lived experience in the criminal justice system. The Towards Employment mission champions the potential of every person to succeed in a rewarding career today while working to create an equitable and inclusive workforce for tomorrow. This storytelling partnership offers a gateway for residents to articulate critical issues such as social injustice, poverty, barriers to employment, and mental health.
EXPANDING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Underscoring our commitment to bring our storytelling model to as many communities as possible, Modern Warrior LIVE utilized a nimble short "unplugged" version of our full performance to convene community leaders and demonstrate our approach in intimate gatherings throughout 2024 including Manhattan Beach, Washington D.C., Cleveland, and Arlington, Virginia. The 2024 gatherings, which will be replicated in new communities in 2025, allowed us to both present our unique model to amplify awareness while concurrently eliciting feedback from specific community leaders including those from national and local veteran service organizations, law enforcement and the music industry.
PHOTO GALLERY FROM RECENT PERFORMANCES
