Press

Press

WUWM: UWM Today, Hosted by Tom Luljak January 20, 2012 Guitars For Vets at UWM Tom Luljak discusses with instructor Bev Belfer how her UWM guitar class is open to all qualified military service veterans in the Milwaukee area as a partnership of the Peck School of the Arts Music Department and Guitars4Vets. Listen at http://www.wuwm.com/programs/uwm_today/view_uwmt.php?articleid=328

United States Department of Veterans Affairs December 24, 2011 GUITARS FOR VETS BRINGS MUSIC, THERAPY TO CHARLESTON VAMC Music therapy has been embraced for years as an effective therapy to help Veteran patients cope with physical or emotional injuries. Now Charleston VAMC is expanding its program by starting a Guitars for Vets chapter offering lessons, instruments, and healing to participating patients. Read more at http://www.charleston.va.gov/features/G4V.asp

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee December 20, 2011 Vets Invited To Learn Guitar at UWM Bev Belfer is welcoming all military veterans to participate in a beginners guitar class held at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). With guest status, vets do not receive class credit and must be certified through the Military Education Benefits Office (MEBO), located in Mellencamp Hall, room 168A. The class is offered through a partnership between the nonprofit organization Guitars for Vets and UWMs Peck School of the Arts. Veterans who attend six classes receive their own guitar, gig bag, tuner and method book from Guitars for Vets. Read more at http://www4.uwm.edu/news/stories/details.cfm?customel_datapageid_11602=4122879

The Wall Street Journal December 8, 2011 Military Veterans Prepare for a New Role The Wall Street Journal profiles Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer Inc. The "business accelerator" helping vets break into the business world. VETransfer is based in Milwaukee, and housed the new Guitars for Vets headquarters. Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204083204577083012792081048.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_smallbusiness#articleTabs%3Darticle And check out the slideshow that accompanies the article - G4V founder Dan Van Buskirk is pictured with VETransfer's Ted Lasser:

ABC News 2 Baltimore November 23, 2011 Guitars for Vets Maryland heals vets with music ABC News 2 profiles instructor Bob Hevner and students at the Perry Point VA Medical Center. Read more at http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/cecil_county/guitars-for-vets-maryland-heals-vets-with-music

Third Coast Digest Podcast November 17, 2011 Music heals at Guitars for Vets Not until fairly recently have we begun to learn the effects fighting in a war can have on a person mentally as well as physically. Veterans like Guitars For Vets co-founder and President, Dan Van Buskirk, searched for ways to deal with things like Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and other consequences of war. In 2007, Van Buskirk went to Cream City Music in search of a guitar he could learn to play. There, he met Patrick Nettesheim, a Milwaukee-area guitar instructor. After a few lessons and some encouraging results, the two started on a path that would lead them to co-found Guitars for Vets, an organization whos mission is to use the healing power of music to help veterans cope with the effects of war. Guitars for Vets is based right here in Milwaukee and provides guitars to veterans across the country. Listen now: Backstage with Mark Metcalf: Dan Van Buskirk, Guitars for Vets

CNN National Segment featuring G4V Virginia Chapter November 11, 2011 Music therapy for veterans with PTSD View the story here

CBS 58 Milwaukee July 22, 2011 VA treating PTSD patients with power of music After risking their lives for our country, many service men and women come back from war feeling the brutal effects known as post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, but at the VA here in Milwaukee - they're coping through the power of music. The Milwaukee VA is using music as therapy to rehabilitate vets who've come back from war. Guitars for Vets is a national program that's given away over 1,200 guitars and more than 8,000 lessons and its now strumming a chord with our local servicemen and women. View the story here

NPR July 3, 2011 Guitar Heroism: Veterans Fight PTSD With Music An alternative treatment for veterans suffering the effects of PTSD and traumatic brain injury is growing in popularity, as is its wait list. The program, started by a Vietnam veteran, uses the soothing sounds of the guitar to help heal the vivid memory of bomb blasts, gunfire and other lingering symptoms of combat. Erin Toner of WUWM profiles Guitars For Vets alum Mark Duran in a story broadcast nationaly on NPR's Weekend Edition. Listen to the story at http://www.npr.org/2011/07/03/137588367/guitar-heroism-veterans-fight-ptsd-with-music

Fox 6 News Milwaukee May 2011 Fox 6 News "Pass It On" profiles Patrick Nettesheim and his students at the Milwaukee VA.

Vintage Guitar Magazine May 2011 Issue Check out the "First Fret" section of the May issue of Vintage Guitar magazine for a profile of the Guitars for Vets program. Patrick Nettesheim, Dan Van Buskirk and Gary Walbrun are interviewed, and discuss the history, current events and what you can do to get involved. Vintage Guitar Magazine has been published since 1986, and focuses on information and histories of the instruments and the people and companies that built them, great interviews with the top players of today and yesterday and the instruments they use, the secret repair tips of the experts, pricing info, and much more. Click Here for the article

Be Heard: 88.9 interviews Guitars for Vets Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Patrick and Michael of Guitars for Vets talk to Jordan Lee at 88.9 about the program, and promote the 3rd installment of Tosa City Limits at the G4V headquarters. Read and Listen Here

CN2 News February 18, 2011 ROCK HILL, SC -- Whether it's teaching kids at a young age or grown ups, music can certainly help soothe the soul. One local group is teaching military heroes them how to cope with the scars of war through music lessons. CN2's Leslie Draffin shows us how playing the guitar is bringing veterans together one song at a time. View Video

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams - Making a Difference Thursday, November 11, 2010 As 2010 draws to a close, we wanted to leave you with the story of some vets who found a way to soothe body and soul and they're sharing it with others who could use a little of the same thing. They're doing it through music. They're finding it's providing a different kind of great escape. NBC's Kevin Tibbles has the story tonight of how they are making a difference. View Video Also, see web-only footage from the NBC story here

Premier Guitar Magazine August, 2010 Brothers and Sisters In Arms: Guitars for Vets In the time it takes to read this story, another US serviceman or servicewoman will lose their life. It won't be to an IED on the battlefields of Iraq or Afghanistan. It will be to suicide on the battlefield of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression - right here at home. Every day, 19 soldiers take their own lives. Fifty percent of our homeless population is made up of veterans, and more than 250,000 veterans now suffer from PTSD. A 2004 Department of Defense study estimates that 17 to 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq suffer from major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD.And according to a 2008 report cited in Tears of a Warrior: A Family's Story of Combat and Living with PTSD - a book the Veterans Administration uses in its PTSD treatment program - roughly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed since 2003. View Article

Be Heard: Guitars For Vets MKE Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Their have been countless studies that show the healing power of music can have a profound effect on one's life. Whether we agree or disagree with the decision to go to war, one thing is for certain there are men and women who bravely fight for and honorably represent our country. As a consequence of war, many of our soldiers come home with physical and emotional injuries. They need help. Emotion and physical wounds can be healed with medicine and technology, but sometimes that's not enough. Read More

KMOV St. Louis - Good News: "Guitars for Vets" Monday, September 20, 2010 "Guitars for Vets" is trying to heal veterans with music. The group gives free guitar lessons and guitars to veterans. The group was founded by a Vietnam veteran who suffered for years from post-traumatic stress syndrome. He picked up a guitar one day and it changed his life. Read More

Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune July 13, 2010 Build a guitar, change a vet's life Vietnam veteran Dan Van Buskirk spent years battling post-traumatic stress disorder with doctors and medicine. But it was a guitar that helped soothe his soul -- and led him to launch an unusual nonprofit called Guitars For Vets. Read More

The Morning Blend WTMJ 4 Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 In May of 2007 Patrick Nettesheim was teaching Dan Van Buskirk his guitar lesson when they started chatting about how much playing the guitar has helped Dan manage his Vietnam born PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Dan felt that it gave him focus and a great sense of happiness. They speculated that other Vets with PTSD might benefit from this meditation in motion. Read More

WISN ABC 12 Milwaukee Video News Story Sunday, December 21, 2008 Interview with Dan Van Buskirk and Patrick Nettesheim. Read More

Guitars For Vets Expands to Madison Article Monday, September 15, 2008 Madison (WKOW) -- In keeping with their mission, Guitars for Vets, a Milwaukee based non-profit corporation, which supplies guitars and instruction to Veterans, has announced its expansion to the Madison, WI. Guitars for Vets representatives and instructors... Read More

WXYM 96.1 Radio Interview Friday, March 7, 2008 Radio interview with Dan Van Buskirk and John Lindner.

FOX 6 Milwaukee Video News Story Sunday, December 23, 2007 Click to View