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Happy Holidays!From the Josh Dunne Organization, Mission Ready! We would like to wish all our supporters and followers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
This first year has gone by so quickly and we have accomplished so much. We look forward to the New Year and all the events we have in mind. We plan to connect more with the community and meet some of our veterans and other organizations who support veterans. Networking is such an important part of succeeding in our mission and we hope you can be a part of the events we have planned for the new year. Take time to relax, do some self-care for yourself, be kind and respectful towards one another, make a commitment to do an act of kindness this holiday season, and spread joy to others. We know the holiday's can be rough for many, but let's remember that no one is ever truly alone in their sorrow and you can make through rough waters. With love and respect, The Josh Dunne Organization, Mission Ready! P.S. check out some awesome pictures from a BBQ hosted by the organization to share with veterans in honor of Josh's one year anniversary since his passing. The Josh Dunne Memorial Scholarship Campaign is Successfully Completed!
Happy Easter, from our family to yours!
Hello!
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Media Article
LAS CRUCES — About a month before he died, Josh Dunne, his father and brothers-in-law went on a hunting trip. Before returning to Las Cruces, they stopped at a Silver City restaurant run by a relative. There, Dunne met a fellow veteran and made friendly conversation with him.
Unbeknownst to the veteran, Dunne paid for his breakfast before leaving. When told about Dunne’s generosity, the veteran broke down in tears: because of post-traumatic stress disorder, he had fallen on hard times, and Dunne’s act of kindness came at a time when the veteran needed it the most.
Dunne, who also suffered from PTSD, died last year during a crisis situation with first responders on Dec. 2 in Las Cruces.
His wife, Melanie, and brother, Jonah, are honoring Josh Dunne’s memory and generosity with a scholarship at New Mexico State University, where Josh Dunne was a graduate student studying social work at the time of his death. Dunne was also president of the NMSU Student Veterans Organization, working closely with veterans who also suffered from PTSD to help them transition into university life, and with homeless veterans in need of help.
“Josh was so vibrant and full of energy, and he loved to make people laugh, even at his own expense,” Melanie Dunne said. “He was smart, intelligent and super involved as a dad. There’s still people who I’ve never met coming up to me telling me how he helped them in some way. He never talked about that stuff.”
Josh Dunne was originally from Roswell, New Mexico, and enlisted in the Marines after graduating high school in 2000. He was one of the top six Marine graduates from more than 500 recruits. He served for five years as a Crew Chief, and specialized as an aircraft communications, navigation and electrical systems technician of the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion. He bravely fought in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and was involved in the Second Battle of Fallujah in late 2004. He was also involved in a horrific helicopter crash that took the lives of his staff sergeant and several fellow Marines, and tried desperately to save them even in the face of enemy fire. Dunne himself was injured as a result of the crash.
Dunne was honorably discharged from Marine Corps in 2005, but for more than a year, kept the dog tags of those who died in the helicopter crash at his bedside. After being discharged, Dunne moved in with his brother, Jonah, who witnessed several of his older brother’s PTSD episodes. But Dunne was open about his struggles with PTSD, talking frequently about his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also had the help of a service dog, Sawyer, who continues to live with Melanie Dunne and their children, Isabella and Johnathan.
“He helped a lot of veterans who were debating whether or not to go back to school,” Jonah Dunne said. “He would hand out his personal number and make himself available in order to help them.”
After Josh Dunne’s death, Melanie Dunne created The Josh Dunne Organization, of which Jonah Dunne is also a board member. The main mission of the organization is to reduce the stigma of PTSD and help veterans and their families find support. The organization is also raising funds for the Josh Dunne Memorial Endowed Scholarship, which will benefit veterans or their dependents who are attending NMSU and majoring in a social service field, such as social work or criminal justice.
“In his mind, he thought the only way we could deal with (PTSD) is to talk about it,” Melanie Dunne said. “He talked about it with other veterans, but his everyday struggle with PTSD was a whole other issue. With all of our friends, he masked it, but with our family, we knew that struggle, seeing the waves of depression, the times he would crawl into this dark hole.”
Through her tears, Melanie Dunne described crawling into that dark emotional hole with her husband, much like many other spouses of veterans with PTSD. Their only hope, Melanie said, is making it back out of the hole alive with their spouse.
“I thought we had made it out,” she said, reflecting back to the day her husband died. “I don’t think a day goes by that we don’t questions ourselves. I think I’ve exhausted all the ‘what ifs,’ and at the end of the day, continuing Josh’s legacy is what keeps my mind off of that.”
To invest in veterans and contribute to the Josh Dunne Memorial Endowed Scholarship, visit https://makeastatement.nmsu.edu/josh.
Adriana M. Chávez writes for University Communications and can be reached at adchavez@nmsu.edu
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The Josh Dunne Organization, Mission Ready! and New Mexico State University have collaborated to create the Josh Dunne Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Together we are on a mission to raise funds to award at least two NMSU veteran or dependent students who are entering into a social service field. Your donation will greatly impact and relief financial burdens for student veterans and their family working to achieve a higher education, it is also tax deductible!
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Scholarship Update, From Isabella and Mom.
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Please keep sharing our mission to reach our goal of $10,000 to provide a student veteran and/or their dependent with a scholarship in honor of my husband, Josh Dunne, USMC.
This week Jonah and I did an interview with NMSU news that will be out soon, we will share that update with you as it is our first step in achieving our next mission of PTSD awareness - of course in hopes of achieving our scholarship goal also. I want to thank each and everyone of our donors so far, this has been amazing to see. I wake up every morning and check our campaign to see the progress we have made, I am so grateful for our friends and family who have shared, for the students who have donated and everyone who is beginning and continuing to keep Josh's good memory alive. I know Josh is here and I know we all are making him proud that his mission in life of helping other veteran's continues to live on! Have a great weekend! Melanie |
What is an endowment?
An endowed scholarship means that we will be able to annually award at least two students with a scholarship in a social service field. This permanent fund means that we will have the leisure of not fundraising every year to award our recipient(s); thus we can focus on choosing the right candidates and celebrating their success and efforts to further pursue their education. The following requirements for our students are that they be a full time or part time student, undergraduate or graduate level, veteran or dependent of, in the field of social work, criminal justice, or public health. Our scholarship is housed within the Military and Veterans Program on campus where we will be assisted with filtering applicants through NMSU's scholar dollars.
Thank You, Senator Morales!
This week the family and friends of Josh received a special condolence from the State Capitol in Santa Fe! See below! A special thank you to Senator Morales.
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1st Issue Newsletter, March 2017
| 351388453-josh-dunne-organization-newsletter-march-2017-1.pdf |
2nd Issue Newsletter, July 2017
| josh_dunne_organization_newsletter_march_2017-5.pdf |
3rd Issue Newsletter, December 2017
| josh_dunne_organization_newsletter_october_2017.pdf |
4th Issue Newsletter, May 2018
| 4th_quarter_newsletter_.pdf |
