Charlie Daniels charity donates $100k to Nashville Veterans

The Journey Home Project, co-founded by Charlie Daniels, presented a check for $100,000 to Operation Stand Down Tennessee on behalf of Nashville Serving Veterans Community Board. The gift will be used to staff the Nashville Serving Veterans Community Board’s Virtual Welcome Center in partnership with Operation Stand Down Tennessee. DevDigital, a local full service digital development firm that specializes in custom web development, enterprise and mobile application development, and web hosting will provide the design and hosting of the site at no cost.

“The true measure of growth in supporting our military community, is when like-minded Americans realize a need, and then take action. Charlie, along with DevDigital, Lt. General Keith Huber, Operation Stand Down and the board of The Journey Home Project are joining forces to create a Nashville resource center that will serve our military families in the way they so deserve. We are experiencing the incredible success of a center such as this at the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center on the MTSU campus. I feel honored to be a part of this amazing process,” said David Corlew, co-founder of The Journey Home Project and Daniels’ manager.

Nashville-based 501(c)3 non-profit, The Journey Home Project, made 2016 a record year of giving with hundreds of thousands of dollars pledged to various initiatives. The organization, co-founded by newly inducted Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Daniels and manager and music industry veteran David Corlew with Ed Hardy, Joe Longever and Mercedez Longever, was founded to make a difference in the lives of American veterans by helping to meet their education, healthcare and employment needs.

“The true measure of growth in supporting our military community, is when like-minded Americans realize a need, and then take action.”

Highlights of the year included donating $50,000 to Shepherd’s Men as part of their 1,400-mile run from Boston to Atlanta to benefit the SHARE Military Initiative at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center. After donating over $100,000 to Middle Tennessee State University to create their Veterans and Military Family Center which opened in April, the center was named in honor of Daniels’ and his wife Hazel earlier this year. The 2,600-square-foot, $329,000 center is a one-stop-shop for MTSU’s approximately 1,000 student veterans and family members. At an event in October prior to a Tennessee Titan’s game called Tailgate for a Cause, The Journey Home Project presented a check to the organization A Soldier’s Child. ASC provides children of fallen military personnel who have given their lives in service to our country a birthday gift each year until they are 18. They offer multiple mentorship programs as well as scholarships to their members. Presently, over 2,500 children are enrolled in the program.

These funds are made possible through the charitable giving of individual donors throughout the year as well as major fundraising events including an annual gala at The Palm Restaurant in Downtown Nashville. Charlie Daniels’ 80th Birthday Volunteer Jam in November raised a considerable amount of money for the non-profit, featuring acts like Kid Rock, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton and more.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com