A Call To Shoulders

05/25/2026

We are here if needed. And yes, it's free.

05/02/2026

A few days ago, we shared how this started.

This is what it looks like now.

Structure reinforced.
Base rebuilt.
Casters installed.
Primer down.
Color going on.

But this still isn’t about a cabinet.

A Call To Shoulders has never been just a wood shop.

It’s an answer to the question: what can everyday civilians do about the veteran su***de rate?

By creating opportunities. Specifically for them.

That’s the difference.

We don’t have to know what they’re going through to know they’ve got more on their shoulders than they should.

And the reality is, there’s an uncomfortable number of them sitting at home with more time on their hands than they’d like.

This has always been more than teaching someone how to paint or fix furniture. It’s about meeting them where they are and helping them build a path forward.

Because if we want veterans to stop killing themselves, we have to make it easier for them to succeed at doing anything else.

It’s not as hard as you might think.

Waubonsee’s micro pantry pilot is moving forward.

And so are the people working on it.

Next week, Waubonsee will have a beautiful first micro pantry for their campus and students—which they could have had anyway.

But because they realized there was additional room on their shoulders, Lovely and her husband will have learned how to do something and earned the money to do it for themselves.

It’s different. It’s better. And it’s working.

Because you can take away money and tools, but you can’t take away experience.

Show them how to rebuild themselves—and get out of the way.

Starting to get it yet?

A Call To Shoulders isn’t a woodworking program.

It’s an opportunities program.

And as more Shoulders show up, so will our ability to create opportunities for veterans.

04/30/2026

Waubonsee Community College has come to us with something they were already doing, creating micropantries for students on campus that were fighting food insecurity.

They didn’t need us to start it.

They wanted to make it more impactful.

So they brought it to A Call To Shoulders and asked how we could help turn it into something that creates opportunity for veterans.

That’s what a Shoulder Project is.

This cabinet is the start of that.

A Waubonsee Community College student and Marine veteran, Lovely Cooper, came into the shop with her husband Rodney—also a Marine veteran—heard the full picture, and decided to step into it.

Now it’s real.

We’ll reinforce and prep the structure.

Then it’s theirs to clean, prime, and bring to life.

Not just as a project.

As an opportunity.

Because if we want veterans to succeed, we have to create places where their time turns into something that has value.

This is one cabinet.

But it’s also a model of what’s to come.

04/02/2026

Shoulder Opportunity: I’ve heard nothing but great things about this organization from veterans who have participated. If you want to help take some of the burden off the shoulders of Veterans, support organizations that are willing to create opportunities for healing and community building like this.

This is the power of connection.

For many veterans, the hardest battles aren’t fought overseas, they’re fought in isolation. Community is the antidote to much of what ails us. It restores purpose, builds trust, and reminds each individual they’re not alone.

At Patrol Base Abbate, we create spaces where shared interest and outdoor experiences bring veterans back together, transforming strangers into lifelong support systems.

When you Support-a-Veteran today, you’re not just helping fund our premier programs, you’re helping rebuild community, one connection at a time.

Donate today: https://donate.pbabbate.org/campaign/741666/donate

Join us: https://www.pbabbate.org

04/01/2026

There are several very cool things in the works, but I wanted to share this as soon as it was public. This is an example of Shoulders just doing what they do, but spreading the word and the burden.

Btw, don’t mistake silence for inactivity. There’s a cumbersome project in the shop at the moment but once it’s gone, we are cranking up momentum machine again. We are working on two very different ideas that will enable veterans to learn some very cool things and one of them has serious micro business potential.

03/02/2026

“I’ll have a forest by noon.”

Just got off the phone with one of the veterans who made and sold Christmas ornaments with us at our event in Aurora. He earned enough to get his lathe package, got it setup in his apartment and has churned out an impressive amount of turned goods.

He’s also got an internship as a peer counselor for other veterans. And what I love is that he took the idea of the tree from the Christmas event and is now making each of the people in his group a tree to be used as part of their discussion.

ACTS is about helping veterans turn time into value and value doesn’t have to be monetary. And if you had heard his voice when he said the words above…

02/18/2026

Let’s go, Shoulders. This is an immediate need for a space that will enable this amazing group to keep taking weight off our veterans’s shoulders.

🚨 BIG NEWS — and we need your help. 🚨

Our warehouse has officially been sold, and we have 30 days to vacate the space.

This warehouse is where we store and organize care package items, hygiene supplies, shelf-stable food, and essential resources that go directly to our military, veterans, first responders, and their families.

It’s the heartbeat behind so much of the work we do at Support Over Stigma.

We are urgently looking for new warehouse or storage space ASAP, ideally in Western DuPage County or Kane County so we can continue serving our community efficiently.

If you — or someone you know — has available space (commercial, industrial, storage, unused warehouse, etc.), please reach out immediately.

📩 [email protected]

Please share this post. You never know who in your network might be the answer.

We have 30 days. Let’s make a miracle happen together. 💙

01/03/2026

If you want to help a lot of veterans, help one. Odds are pretty good that they will turn around and start helping others.

A vet we helped over Christmas got his own lathe this morning and was teaching his friend this afternoon.

12/31/2025

Every veteran carries something on their shoulders.

Sometimes it’s visible.
Sometimes it’s not.
Sometimes it’s heavy enough that just getting through the day is work.

Once a year, we applaud that weight.
Then the next morning comes — and it’s Tuesday.

Bills are still due.
Pain is still there.
And so is the emptiness.

So instead of another fundraiser or awareness campaign, we built a pop-up opportunity.

Over several weeks in Aurora, four veterans participated in a public, live-making pop-up using reclaimed wood from the City of Aurora’s Christmas tree — a tree that stood at the center of the community for more than 60 years.

A tree that carried decades of weight became raw material for people carrying weight of their own.

The idea was simple: remove what’s in the way, shoulder the setup ourselves, and create a situation where all they had to do was show up and make things.

The conditions were brutal.
Severe winds forced multiple full site rebuilds.
Sub-zero temperatures damaged the setup.
Emergency heating and constant adaptation replaced polish.

But we didn’t cancel.
Neither did the veterans.

They showed up.
They learned.
They earned.

Here’s what that produced:
• $2,120 in direct sales — 100% went to the veterans
• Two veterans earned enough to start buying their own equipment
• Two others earned meaningful supplemental income during the holiday season.

The design idea started as simple acorns and trees, then evolved as each veteran interpreted the forms in the moment. Same starting point. Different decisions. Real agency.

One veteran told us something we won’t forget.
For years, he went to bed wishing he wouldn’t wake up.
After participating — showing up, making, selling — he said he doesn’t go to bed with that thought anymore.

That’s not a statistic.
That’s a shift in how someone relates to tomorrow.

Including shop rental and all operating costs, this all happened for under $2k.

What ACTS shoulders is creating unique, life-enabling opportunities for veterans.
We aren’t building stories.
We’re building environments where veterans have greater control over their own.

This pop-up demonstrated only a fraction of what’s possible.

If this make sense to you, we could use any room on your shoulder you can spare
If it doesn’t, that’s okay too — but don't expect us to slow down to make it easier for you either

12/22/2025

We are still wrapping up a couple of final sales before a final report, but here are the photos from Sunday.