$70K gift
pushes The Journey Home Project’s support to $120K
MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s
new Veterans and Military Family Center will be named for legendary country
music entertainer Charlie Daniels and his wife, Hazel, President Sidney A.
McPhee announced Wednesday.
McPhee surprised the couple with the honor at a private
dinner Tuesday night at the President’s Residence, where the music icon
presented an additional $70,000 gift to the center from The Journey Home
Project.
The donation raises the total support from the veterans-support
organization, founded by Charlie Daniels and his longtime manager David Corlew,
to $120,000.
“We are deeply
touched and deeply honored,” said the singer, who is widely known for his
advocacy work for veterans. “I’ve been blessed to be inducted into the Country
Music Hall of Fame and, now, having a veterans center named after me.”
“This is truly special,” Hazel Daniels said to McPhee.
The Tennessee Board of Regents delegates authority for the
naming of centers and entities within campus structures at the sole discretion
of the president, McPhee said. “This is a responsibility I take very
seriously,” he said.
McPhee said the support by the Journey Home Project “creates
a legacy for you and your family, where veterans and their families will have
the benefit of having such incredible services offered at the Charlie and Hazel
Daniels center.”
The Journey
Home Project assists other not-for-profits in securing funds to benefits
veterans and assist in their transition from uniform into civilian life. It was
founded by Daniels, Corlew and board members Ed Hardy and Joe and Mercedez
Longever.
The project raises funding from individual donors and
fundraising events, including the renowned Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam. The
40th Anniversary Volunteer Jam was last held in August 2015 at Nashville’s
Bridgestone Arena.
The project seeks
to assist veterans “by partnering with organizations that do the most good,
with the least overhead,” Corlew said.
The president credited retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber,
the university’s senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives, for
his leadership in building the center and establishing MTSU’s ties with the
project.
“The general helped this university build, in record time,
the largest and most comprehensive veterans service center found on a Tennessee
university campus,” McPhee said. “He continues to serve our nation by helping
our more than 1,000 veterans and family members receive the support and
services they have earned.”
Daniels helped formally open the 2,600-square-foot center on
Nov. 5. Located on the first floor of the Keathley University Center, it
addresses many of the needs of student-veterans, including academic advising
and navigating the paperwork tied to various federal benefits and financial
aid.
Hilary Miller,
a military spouse and family member, serves as the center’s director. She works
alongside U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees Heather Conrad with
VetSuccess on Campus and Veteran Affairs Coordinator Ray Howell.
The center staff features five full-time
staff, including a mental health counselor, and 17 part-time student-veterans,
who serve as peer advisers.
The center also
has distinctive social space for informal gatherings and study sessions and a conference
room for video teleconferencing and employer job interviews.
Daniels has had
close ties to MTSU for decades. In 1975, the second Volunteer Jam was held at
MTSU’s Murphy Center and in 2009, the university presented him with the Joe M.
Rodgers Spirit of America Award, an honor presented to a businessperson who has
demonstrated the best of the spirit of America through significant
contributions in government, education, and/or civic and charitable
organizations.
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