Freeland business owner to boost veteran fundraiser

Lucas Jushinski has done it again. For the fourth time this year, the Freeland business owner has offered a South Whidbey-based community group a chance to raise some much needed capital with what are quickly becoming his signature grant offers. Like he’s done with two other non-profit organizations, Jushinski recently committed to matching up to $10,000 to boost a fundraising effort by the Whidbey Veterans Resource Center in Bayview.

By Justin Burnett • November 4, 2014 6:32 pm
Whidbey Veterans Resource Center President Greg Stone shakes hands with Lucas Jushinski at the organization’s South Whidbey headquarters. Jushinski is helping the nonprofit boost a fundraiser with a $10
Whidbey Veterans Resource Center President Greg Stone shakes hands with Lucas Jushinski at the organization’s South Whidbey headquarters. Jushinski is helping the nonprofit boost a fundraiser with a $10

Lucas Jushinski has done it again.

For the fourth time this year, the Freeland business owner has offered a South Whidbey-based community group a chance to raise some much needed capital with what are quickly becoming his signature grant offers. Like he’s done with two other non-profit organizations, Jushinski recently committed to matching up to $10,000 to boost a fundraising effort by the Whidbey Veterans Resource Center in Bayview.

“It’s an extraordinarily selfless and meaningful gesture by Lucas for veterans and their families,” said Greg Stone, president of the resource center.

Believed to be the only one of its kind in the state, the resource center offers a host of services for the island’s estimated 13,000 non-active duty veterans. It’s also short on cash, and this fundraiser will go a long way toward keeping the doors open, he said.

The effort kicks off with a showing of “Soldier’s Sanctuary,” at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at the Clyde Theater in Langley. The founder of Seattle-based PeaceTrees Vietnam, Jerilyn Brusseau, as well as Quang Le, the group’s in-country director, will be in attendance.

Jushinski offered the same grant incentive to Good Cheer Food Bank this past summer, which resulted in $35,000 raised for the Fresh Food on the Table program. He’s presently engaged with a second effort with the same organization and another with New Stories, a Freeland nonprofit dedicated to “inspiring social change through experiences of awe and wonder.”

So why is he doing it? Jushinski says it’s really very simple. These are all groups he admires and they deserve financial support.

“In the end, my commitment is giving back to the community and organizations that are doing great things,” Jushinski said.

The resource center and food bank, however, are both groups that have helped him personally. Jushinski, who spent eight years in the U.S. Navy, service that included time spent embedded in a marine unit in Iraq, came to South Whidbey struggling with post traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) and depression.

These organizations were there for him, in different ways, and his road to recovery ultimately led to his opening of a successful business, a medical marijuana dispensary in Freeland. Now he’s in a position to return the favor, and is doing so.

Also, he emphasized that PTSD and depression are deadly afflictions for veterans. Incidentally, he also funded a fifth effort, his first, to Santa Cruz-based Multi Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (or MAPS), which seeks to address such veteran-related disorders with psychedelics.

“Right now there are 22 vets a day killing themselves,” Jushinski said. “It’s not really talked about in the media.”

By contributing to the resource center, a group he says can make a real difference, he is himself supporting positive change.

The resource center performs various functions, all of which are geared toward veterans. One of its most vital services is as a hub or liaison for the Veteran’s Administration; the Whidbey group helps former servicemen and servicewomen navigate the often difficult process of obtaining benefits from the federal agency. It also provides transportation and financial assistance, hosts two veteran’s groups a week at its headquarters at the American Legion Post 141, and holds annual “stand downs,” events that focus on reaching out to struggling veterans and their families.

Finally, the resource center provides extracurricular outlets, such as a swimming program at an Oak Harbor pool and a partnership this summer with the South Whidbey Yacht Club to offer sailing lessons.

“It’s just a lot of great services I believe in,” Jushinski said.

The organization’s end goal is to be the “center of the wheel, the hub for veteran services,” according to Stone. Accomplishing that does require funding, however, and Saturday’s screening is just one part of the resource center’s fundraising effort. Stone said he’ll also be giving presentations to various community groups in hopes of reaching the $10,000 goal. The fundraising deadline is the end of the year.

Donations will be accepted at the screening, but they can also be done online at http://whidbeyvrc.org/donate/ or by mailing checks to Whidbey Veterans Resource Center, PO Box 85, Freeland, WA 98249.