MADISON – Employees and military personnel with Still Serving Veterans are celebrating the 16th anniversary of the organization’s outreach in the community.

A nonprofit organization, Still Serving Veterans offers various services to help veterans, military service members, members of National Guard and Reserves, along with military spouses.

Veterans have received continuous support since the inception of Still Serving Veterans. “Season after season, year after year, Still Serving Veterans has been proud to provide continuous support for our veteran brothers and sisters,” U.S. Army Major General (retired) Paulette Risher said. Risher is President and Chief Executive Officer of Still Serving Veterans.

“To put things in perspective, it is estimated that there are over 1.6 million registered 501(c)3 nonprofits in the United States with 45,000 focused on military and veterans. The National Center on Charitable Statistics shows that approximately 30 percent of nonprofits fail to exist after 10 years,” Risher said.

“So, the question is, of those 70 percent that continue to exist, how many are making a real difference in the lives of those they seek to serve?” Risher said. “That is a harder question to answer, and the one we must ask ourselves.”

Risher explained some of the major tenets in Still Serving Veterans’ philosophy:

* Impact — Still Serving Veterans has made a real difference in the lives of the vast majority of clients, Risher said. “How many have we served? While the data from the early days is spotty, there are currently over 16,000 records in our Case Management Database, which we adopted in 2014.”

* Calling – Members of Still Serving Veterans’ staff are ‘called’ to this work. “We genuinely care about those we serve,” Risher said. “These clients are not numbers or transactions. These are men and women who have served our nation and are deserving of our respect and care — even when they are being crusty.”

* Business – “One of the reasons that Still Serving Veterans has survived and thrived is that we have operated as a business,” Risher said. “Stewardship, disciplined processes, transparent financial management and business quality systems have earned us the financial support from grantors and donors.” Still Serving Veterans has achieved public recognition through watchdog organizations, such as Charity Navigator, GuideStar and Great Nonprofits. The organization had the agility to respond to COVID-19 and other challenges.

“While the founders of Still Serving Veterans may never have envisioned how far we would come in 16 years, they, and all of those who have served as board members and staff, can be proud of what has been accomplished in our striving to ‘serve and honor veterans,’” Risher said.

“This, in fact, is ‘sweet 16’!” she said.

Still Serving Veterans’ office address is 626 Clinton Ave. W., Suite 200 in Huntsville. For more information, call 256-883-7035 or visit ssv.org.