From Savage Arms
Savage Arms was proud to be a part of the Aiming for Zero Great Nor’easter shooting competition. More than 200 competitors came out to help prevent veteran suicide and support the local veteran community. Despite COVID-19 restrictions and challenges, participation grew from last year and more than $25,000 was raised.
“We were happy to play a small part in a great event for our veterans,” said Beth Shimanski, Director of Marketing at Savage Arms. “Seeing the community come together for such an important cause means a lot to our team and we hope everyone’s combined efforts can make a difference.”
Aiming for Zero provides the national competitive shooting community a channel through which to focus their efforts to support ending veteran suicide. Individuals, groups and clubs hosted side stages, full matches and other creative methods at their local ranges. Active Heroes is a 501c3 charity that hosts these events and works with these ranges to target veterans who are struggling and pair them with trained peer mentors.
It has proven to be very successful in supporting veterans within the community. Active Heroes has partnered with ranges that hosted over 1000 veterans, military family members and supporters. The ultimate purpose of Aiming for Zero is to reduce veteran suicide and assist Military Families by:
- Targeting struggling veterans within the competitive shooting community.
- Establishing camaraderie to cope with Post Traumatic Stress (anger, depression, loneliness, substance abuse and suicidal tendencies).
- Uniting veterans, families and supporters to care for each other in times of need.
- Training shooting clubs and ranges how to interact with suicidal veterans and the steps to assist them.