Victory and Valor for Vets, created by Jessica Schmitt to honor her husband’s memory, provides assistance to veterans, service members and military families.
Jessica and her husband, Derrick, grew up in River Falls and were high school sweethearts, married right out of high school. He joined the National Guard with an understanding that they wanted to stay here in River Falls. He ended up in active duty, eventually the first from Minnesota trained as a member of the Elite Air Force Special Forces Phoenix Raven.
Victory and Valor for Vets, created by Jessica Schmitt to honor her husband’s memory, provides assistance to veterans, service members and military families.
 
Jessica and her husband, Derrick, grew up in River Falls and were high school sweethearts, married right out of high school. He joined the National Guard with an understanding that they wanted to stay here in River Falls. He ended up in active duty, eventually the first from Minnesota trained as a member of the Elite Air Force Special Forces Phoenix Raven. He was deployed on numerous lengthy and dangerous missions; many times, his family did not know what he was doing or where he was.

Derrick’s many service-related exposures and injuries left him severely disabled after retirement after more than 22 years in the Air Force; he passed away in March of 2015. Unfortunately, because he was not medically discharged, he was unable to take advantage of many of the financial and support benefits to which he was entitled.
Jessica founded Victory and Valor for Vets to honor her husband’s memory and fulfill his dream that more assistance could be provided to veterans, service members and military families. Jessica believes that Derrick’s experience was not unusual, and that the military routinely fails to provide veterans with the support they need after leaving the service with service-related disabilities. As an example, Jessica noted that it can take two of more yeas for veterans to get approved for benefits through the V.A. Many veterans end up being approved for Social Security Disability benefits prior to being approved for veteran’s benefits.
Jessica ended up taking an unpaid one year leave of absence to care for Derrick. They were living on Derrick’s very small pension and would have lost everything had she not been successful securing other grants. Applying for the grants was a complex process, and Jessica remembered Derrick lamenting that many veterans “don’t have a Jess” and would never be able to navigate the process to secure the support.
More than 22 veterans commit suicide each day, and Jessica believes that this is largely due to veterans like Derrick who end up feeling completely hopeless and unsupported. It was Derrick’s dream that they would work together to do something to make things better for disabled veterans, and Victory and Valor for Vets is Jessica’s way to fulfill Derrick’s dream. She incorporated the organization in October of 2016 and was granted a 501c3 determination in February of this year. She is raising funds in a variety of ways, including individual fundraising, grantwriting and merchandise sales. On October 27, 2017 they are having a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at the American Legion; they are also planning a fundraising event at Cheers Pablo in November.
Jessica believes that one of her greatest strengths is the connections she has with other resources in the region. Her experience as a caregiver makes her uniquely able to work with families and help them find the resources they need.
Learn more about Victory and Valor for Vets at www.vvfv.org.