- May 5, 2024
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While Operation Eco Vets helps veterans adjust to civilian life and address post-traumatic stress disorder, the nonprofit itself is looking for a new home.
Operation Eco Vets is a nonprofit with the mission to help veterans experience personal, educational and professional growth through “a focus on self-reliance, sustainability skills development and social connections in a scenic, natural environment that fosters overall healing and wellness.”
Anne Miller, the programs director for Operation Eco Vets, said the nonprofit was unable to raise the funds needed to purchase the property on Waterbury Road that hosted the nonprofit.
According to property records, the East County property sold for $375,000 in April.
The nonprofit has stopped most programming except for creating teas using herbs from its medicinal garden. It's been too hot for outside work and the nonprofit is waiting to find its new home.
“We are looking to provide an agricultural setting where our veterans have an opportunity to learn how to grow as they transition either out of service or off the PTSD wheel,” Miller said. “There are a couple of very good research studies that show fresh air, sunshine and time with other veterans are all beneficial, especially with PTSD. It’s also the feeling of accomplishment when they harvest something they planted and continue to serve their community.”
As Operation Eco Vets continues to look for a new place to host its programs, Miller said the nonprofit is looking for about half an acre of land to be able to farm and garden as well as have a classroom facility, an air conditioned facility for its medicinal herb garden, offices, a shed, a well and a parking area.
Miller said the nonprofit is looking into a variety of opportunities both public and private including possibly relocating to Mixon Fruit Farms, which is closing July 29 as Manatee County is working to turn the farm into a park. Miller said the nonprofit also is working with Sarasota County Extension to see what opportunities are available.
The nonprofit has a medicinal herb garden to make teas.
It also offers education opportunities through its edible landscaping internships and bootcamp that focuses on topics such as raising backyard chickens, composting, building a worm bin and bucket gardening.
“They can see how to take care of and feed their own families,” Miller said. “That’s why the bootcamp programs are successful because they get to learn those skills.”
Another program Operation Eco Vets offers is a vet recreation program to give veterans and their families an opportunity to bond and participate in various activities such movie nights, sports and barbecues.
“We have found that our veterans preferred small group events,” Miller said. “They don’t like crowds. They don’t like lots of other people around, so we concentrated on having more events with fewer people at each so they had that opportunity.”
Once per week veterans also can weed, harvest and water the nonprofit’s gardens. In 2022, the nonprofit started partnering with All Faiths Food Bank’s veterans-only food pantry. Operation Eco Vets provides food that it harvests from its farm and garden and donates it to support the food bank.
“Finally the collard greens and things they were harvesting had a way to get to the dinner table of fellow veterans,” Miller said. “That pantry serves 140 families. We have never harvested for 140 families, but we were happy to be a part of it.”
Miller said she loves to see the sense of accomplishment veterans have when they see something they planted bloom or be ready to harvest.
She said some veterans that served as interns have become entrepreneurs. While some went into horticulture, others went into other industries. For example, Miller said one veteran became a private chef and another is a sea captain.
“The idea is that we give them a place to grow and feel comfortable until they can get their feet under them and decide what they want to do,” she said.
