My Veteran Passion receives donation to help fight veteran suicides

Ramon Encinas founded 'My Veteran Passion' in 2019 to support fellow veterans after they get out of the service.

"Because we all know a cousin, a brother, a sister that we want to represent and hold that flag for, for mental health; because sometimes, we can't do it, you know. And we need that help. We need that shoulder sometimes to lean on," said Encinas.

The group supports each other through video games and working out with weekly meet-up events.

Movement Mortgage is a national organization with a local office on the east side.

Gavin Gilmore is a loan officer at the local branch who also serves on the board at MVP.

And through the Graceworks grant , Gilmore submitted MVP as a non-profit to win the grant.

"There was 221 submissions, right? There was 46 that were picked, and one of mine was picked, MVP, my veteran passion," said Gilmore, "Som when that came about, man, I was like, over the moon. I was thinking, you know, maybe 1,000 bucks, 500 bucks. And they told me $10,000 we're gonna, we're gonna grant them. I was like, holy cow, this is, this is on another level."

Chris Valenzuela also works at Movement Mortgage here in Tucson.

And he says this is a way for their group to give back into the community.

"What better way for us to show that we love and value our local community than to come behind my veteran passion, you know, and be able to help them with their mission statement at hand," said Valenzuela.

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Blake Phillips is a reporter for KGUN 9 . Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Blake grew up in Sierra Vista. During his college tenure at the Missouri School of Journalism, Blake worked for the NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia. He is excited to return to a place he calls home and give back to the community in which he grew up. Share your story ideas and important issues with Blake by emailing blake.phillips@kgun9.com .

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