Nonprofit awarded $100K to help support veterans

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently awarded $2.5 million to six Ohio organizations that provide suicide-prevention services to veterans, including a nonprofit serving several north-central Ohio counties. Sub Zero Mission, based in Painesville Township, received $100,000 through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The nonprofit will use the funding to provide services in more than a dozen counties, including Erie, Sandusky, Huron and Ottawa. Sub Zero Mission assists homeless veterans, particularly during the coldest months of the year, by providing items including hats, boots, coats, gloves and sleeping bags. The Ohio funding is part of the $112 million awarded to 191 organizations nationwide. It will become available at the start of fiscal year 2027. "Community organizations play a vital role in strengthening the support network available to Ohio Veterans," acting executive director of the Veterans Affairs Northeast Ohio Healthcare System Katina Stone-Jones said. "These grants provide veterans with lifesaving support and ensure they have access to the care and resources they deserve right here in our community." The grant program is intended to extend suicide prevention efforts into communities and reach veterans who are not connected with VA health care. According to the department, 61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 had not received VA health care in the final year of their lives. In 2025, about 17,000 veterans, service members and family members received services through Fox grant recipients — a 31% increase from 2024. Grantees also connected 344 at-risk veterans to emergency mental health care and helped 2,647 veterans who had not previously used Veterans Health Administration services access VA care and resources.