UPSTATE — Upstate Warrior Solution (UWS) is proud to announce a leadership gift for a new Veteran Resource Center project, which will serve as a hub for veteran services in the Upstate.
The project’s capital development efforts were initiated in 2021 by a leadership gift in the amount of $500,000 from the Rupert Huse Charitable Fund. This gift included a match challenge, which was recently achieved, seeding the campaign with $1,000,000 total.
“My husband, Steve, and I are pleased to pay tribute to my father, Rupert Huse, who served honorably in the US Army as he was also starting his career and family,” said Dorothy Dowe, Rupert’s daughter who lives in Greenville. “Dad evolved to love his time in the military and held tremendous respect for our country’s veterans throughout his life. We are excited to see Upstate Warrior Solution use this gift to create a center to serve our local veterans and their families.”
Key partners from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors will be co-located at the center in a strategic effort to improve collaboration and streamline veteran care, thus increasing the Upstate region’s ability to address the complex issues facing our community’s veterans.
“We are excited about this innovative approach to veteran services in our community,” stated the President of the Community Foundation of Greenville, Bob Morris. “UWS has been a leader in this space for almost a decade, and we are proud to support their efforts to build a strong network of veteran service providers.”
The Rupert Huse Veteran Resource Center will facilitate Upstate Warrior Solution’s ability to help track local rates of veteran suicide, unemployment, and homelessness, as well as work with community partners to build solutions for these complex problems. Simultaneously, the organization looks to significantly broaden the number of veterans served annually, increase the economic impact on the Upstate community and expand the veteran service network.
This work will be done in concert with the US Department of Veteran Affairs sanctioned Upstate Veteran Alliance Network (UVAN), of which UWS is a lead organization.
“UVAN is one of four Community Veteran Engagement Boards in the state of South Carolina and UWS was instrumental in starting this network in 2016 and helping sustain it today. The Veteran Resource Center will be a physical gathering space for all members of the UVAN community, and we are grateful to UWS for running point on this outstanding project,” said Kevin McBride, UVAN’s co-chair and Director of Prisma Health’s Military and Government Liaison Office.
The Rupert Huse Veteran Resource Center is being developed by a team of community members. Upstate Warrior Solution said they are grateful for the opportunity to provide resources to warriors and their families from all over the Upstate, and are looking forward to seeing the ways the Rupert Huse Veteran Resource Center will positively impact the community.
Upstate Warrior Solution is a community-based, nonprofit organization serving warriors and their families in the Upstate of South Carolina. Their mission is to connect warriors and their family members to resources and opportunities, lead them through the process of selfempowerment, and inspire the community to embrace local warriors and their family members as valued neighbors and friends.
Since their inception in 2013, Upstate Warrior Solution has helped over 8,000 unique warriors and their families, working with them and community partners to assist with housing, employment, healthcare, education, and family support services.