Everyday 22 veterans lose their battle to suicide. As our volunteers get ready to open Memorial Day Weekend, our thoughts are with our fallen heroes. But what about the ones still in a battle or crisis? The Hesston Steam Museum has teamed up with the passionate and caring people at True Top 1%, a fellow non-profit team of professionals and volunteers who support, honor and empower True Top 1% (military veterans) through Art Therapy. They use a wide variety of art mediums as tools of self-expression to help our military community navigate through MST, PTS'D' and other traumas. By utilizing art therapy as a powerful tool for emotional healing, offering avenues like painting, drawing, and sculpting they can foster self-expression and reduce stress by elevating serotonin levels. Our volunteers and leadership are very proud to do our small part to support True Top 1% in their mission. We are opening our unique Blacksmith Shop learning environment to them and providing instruction in the forgotten craft of the Blacksmith. Last week, we held a pilot class. Our instructing Blacksmith (a fellow veteran), supported by several other volunteer blacksmith, fired the forge and invited the first of our veterans in. We are honored that TrueTop 1% gave us the opportunity to help these people who are the True heros and 1% of our society. We can't wait to meet even more of these heros as we open the shop every third Tuesday of the month. If you are a veteran and would like to join our classes, registration is required. We can only accept 7 in this class. Reach out today to reserve your spot with Brei at b.freund@truetop1percent.com. If you are a vet or know a veteran crisis please Dial 988 then press 1 For more about TrueTop 1% please visit their website: https://truetop1percent.com/tt1p (fb)

Our Executive Director has posted a challenge to help our museum to be more accessible. Can you make the difference? Click the link to read all about our plan. (fb)