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Charitable Giving: Community of Artists and Veterans

posted by TrueNorth Companies on Friday, June 3, 2016

During the month of June, TrueNorth is proud to sponsor our local Community of Artists and Veterans (CAV). We have some exciting things in store for the month and it all benefits this great organization. We invite you to follow along as we share our efforts with you!

About CAV

CAV was founded by Master Sergeant Scott Droessler. As a veteran, Droessler founded the organization after promising his his mother to return home from the military and pursue a degree. After multiple tours in the U.S. Army, Droessler made good on his promise, starting as a student at Kirkwood College before graduating from Mount Mercy with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. Armed with this degree, Droessler began exploring opportunities to open an art studio for veterans. With the help of the Veterans Memorial Commission, Droessler opened the CAV art studio on June 6th, 2015. The studio is located on the fifth floor of the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

According to Droessler, CAV's mission is very simple: to offer veterans and their families a place to create a variety of art and a healing work space, while also providing various instruction. "The military does an awesome job of teaching people to rely on each other and work as a team," says Droessler, "where they fail is oftentimes, once somebody [in the military] gets done, we forget to tell [them] that it's okay to be an individual. CAV is a place for veterans, active duty members, and  family members to come and integrate back into society; a place to create things instead of destroy things." Major art activities available to veterans and their family through CAV are printmaking, painting, glasswork, knitting and small ceramics. 

How TrueNorth Plans to Help

• TrueNorth will start our fundraising efforts with a "bake sale" taco bar, hosted by Financial Strategies and TrueNorth Wealth Management. 
• CAV veterans will visit TrueNorth to teach our team the Zentangle Method. According to zentangle.com, it's an easy to learn, relaxing and fun way to create art through drawing a series of structured patterns. 
• TrueNorth will culminate the month with a coffee bar and silent auction for employees in our Compass Cafe at TrueNorth headquarters. Veterans' artwork will be on available for auction and other items will be on display; a testament to the creativity that flows through the CAV art studio. 

At TrueNorth, our culture is front and center in everything we do.

We have created a one of a kind environment where a group of professionals and entrepreneurs who share their passions for community, family & teamwork have come together to make a difference for each other and our clients. We take pride in building trust in TrueNorth, both internally and externally. Find out more about TrueNorth's history and culture here.