Supporting Our Community: International Wire and Clear Path for Veterans
Each Wednesday in Chittenango, New York, Clear Path for Veterans welcomes veterans, service members, and their families to gather for a hot meal, conversation with people who understand their experience; completely free of charge, at the nonprofit’s weekly event, Canteen.
In 2011, Clear Path for Veterans launched a canine program that co-founder Melissa Spicer says she never set out to build. “I was not set out on a mission to help veterans,” she said. “There were existing circumstances that laid the groundwork. It was something much greater than me.” Melissa teamed up with her sister and Dr. Steve Kinne to focus on a growing need in the veteran and military community, using two powerful ways to bring people together: dogs and food. Those two elements became the foundation of Clear Path for Veterans.
Wednesday Canteen is just a small piece of what Clear Path for Veterans does for communities all over New York. This year Clear Path celebrated its 15th anniversary, and International Wire supported their mission with a $10,000 unrestricted donation presented this summer at the annual IW Copper Classic Golf Outing. Because the donation is unrestricted, Clear Path can direct the funds wherever they are needed most across its programs and services.
Where Donation Money Actually Goes
“Any donor can choose where their money is allocated,” Clear Path’s Senior Marketing Manager, Sarah Clark told us. “The International Wire donation was spread across all of our programs and services, which is really great, because that means that money is touching everything that we’re doing.”
That includes the Canine Program, where donations help cover food and veterinary costs for dogs in training. It may include veteran support services like pantry deliveries, rides to appointments, or help with covering an electricity bill in a hard month. It includes a mobile version of Canteen, and a wellness program with massage therapy, reiki, and float-therapy. As Sarah put it, “we do some different things to really help the whole person on their journey.”
Evans Adrian, an employee at Clear Path was direct about why unrestricted giving matters. Donors usually want to fund the programs they’re able to visually see, like feeding service dogs or covering a massage therapy session. But unrestricted donations allow Clear Path to cover hidden costs behind those services and put every dollar to its fullest use. “Unrestricted donations allow us to use the money in the best capacity to push forward the mission,” Evans mentions.
Today, the organization covers 33 counties across New York, with teams based across New York state. The Canine Program was accredited by Assistance Dogs International, the gold standard within the assistance dog industry for training, ethical treatment, client care, and long-term follow-up support. Today, there are roughly 50 people working at Clear Path, and more than half the employees are veterans themselves.
A Path to Purpose
For some veterans, the Canine Program doesn’t just change daily life; it becomes a reason to stay connected to Clear Path, to continue the mission of helping others. One Marine veteran was paired with a chocolate lab named Ranger; a partnership his wife, herself now a Clear Path staff member, described as, “He has completely transformed our lives.” Seeing that transformation firsthand is part of what led her to join the organization.
The training behind a dog like Ranger starts when a puppy is eight to twelve weeks old. At this age, they can go home with volunteer “Canine Guardians,” who raise them for the next year, building trust and real-world exposure that the service dogs will need. The dogs learn specific service tasks; like interrupting a tapping foot before anxiety builds, resting their weight across a veteran’s leg to apply pressure, and navigating a Home Depot or a grocery store run, the kind of real-world situations a veteran will face.
How to Get Involved — No Check Required
There are many ways companies and people can support Clear Path without writing a check. Companies are invited to bring a team of veteran employees out for a Wednesday Canteen lunch; spread the word or show up to volunteer. What keeps the organization running is its volunteers, especially in the Canine Program, where families work with these dogs. “Volunteer hours make up the bulk of what makes everything happen here,” Evans said. The community events aren’t limited to veterans-only; spouses, partners, children and close friends are welcome to attend as well.
Clear Path runs more than 180 events across New York this year alone including weekly fly fishing meetups, mobile canteens that bring the same free-meal model to VFWs and American Legions, a Thanksgiving Meal service and even a 5k trail run on Clear Path’s Chittenango campus the Sunday before Veterans Day.
International Wire is Rooted in New York
International Wire has nine facilities across New York, and our connection to these communities goes far beyond where we manufacture. Our employees live, work, raise families, and build their lives here. Supporting organizations like Clear Path for Veterans is one way we can invest in the people and communities that have supported International Wire for generations.
Clear Path was chosen as this year’s beneficiary due to several International Wire employees suggesting the New York-based non-profit. There is a committee of 8 members that recommend different local charities they’d like to support. Heather VanWinkle, Corporate Compliance for IW North America and 1 of the 8 members said “This year seemed extremely important with America’s 250th birthday to find a group that really resonated with freedoms we may take for granted each day. We all have personal ties to the military, and this is what felt right. It was a unanimous “yes” vote across the board.”
The donation ties directly to our annual Copper Classic golf tournament, which exists to give back to the communities where our employees live. Each year, the tournament proceeds go to a local organization to make a difference. Past organizations since the IW Copper Classic stated were the Local Fire Departments, Food Bank of CNY, local humane societies, the Camden PBA’s Shop with a Cop program, and, this year, Clear Path for Veterans.
Support Clear Path for Veterans and help veterans, service members, and their families on their journey home.
