Healing the Wounds of War
The difference in the soldiers’, and veterans’ quality of life at Coffee Strong is inspirational to see and hear.
Soldiers and veterans at Coffee Strong experience concrete ways to do something in service for each other.
Everyone I meet here has their own belief structures. There are no judgments about what one believes. Rather than being stuck in counseling sessions where I continuously re-hashed what my unit should have done I’m asking myself how I can help other soldiers make a difference in their lives.
A. Huck
Who are we?
Coffee Strong is a project of GI Voice, a non-profit corporation registered with the State of Washington. Our Advisory Board is made up of nationally recognized individuals, with a broad array of experience working with human rights and social justice issues. All of our board members are dedicated to serving the needs of our friends and neighbors currently in the military as well as those who have served in the past. The members of our Advisory Board are:
- Noam Chomsky, PhD, Author, Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus) and Professor of Linguistic Theory, Syntax, Semantics, and Philosophy of Language, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chomsky.info)
- Marjorie Cohn, JD, Author, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Immediate Past President, National Lawyers Guild (tjsl.edu)
- Michael Ferner, Author, President, Veterans for Peace (mikeferner.org)
- Eva Golinger, JD, Author, Independent Journalist, Advisor to Venezuela President Hugo Chavez (chavezcode.com)
- Dahr Jamail, Author, Independent Journalist (dahrjamailiraq.com)
- Antonia Juhasz, Author, Director or the Chevron Program of Global Exchange, Associate fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies and a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus (globalexchange.org)
- Col. Ann Wright (Ret.), JD, Author, Foreign Service Officer (voicesofconscience.com)
- The Late Howard Zinn, PhD, Author, Professor Emeritus, Boston University (howardzinn.org) Thank you for your gift of knowledge, belief in the human spirit, and passion for social justice.
What Does Coffee Strong DO?
We provide:
- Confidential, free GI rights counseling services.
- A link between soldiers and mental health professionals.
- A spotlight to mistreatment of prisoners at Fort Lewis. Coffee Strong influenced officials to change policy on the treatment of incarcerated soldiers.
- Community building events, giving soldiers and their families an opportunity to get off base and relax. We host free concerts and movie nights, speakers and discussions, and many other activities.
- Meeting space for organizations.
How You Can Help
Give now. We need your help to raise $75,000 to continue providing services to the Fort Lewis community, especially for the 10,000 soldiers returning from deployment this year. We also have many exciting volunteer opportunities – please look under “YOU CAN HELP” at the top of this page.
Coffee Strong is a project of the non-profit GI Voice.
