Co-Op Survival brings Veterans, Veteran caregivers, and Veteran families together to eliminate isolation, support family transitions, encourage career goals, and build communities of support.

Programs include:

Unleashed – Leash-making and a different kind of conversation. Co-Op Survival brings Veteran caregivers, Veterans, Veteran families, and the community together to connect while making dog leashes. The leashes we make through our Unleashed program are given to Veterans, service dogs, retired military-dogs, and first responders. When we make leashes, we build common ground, and the knot we use creates a relaxing experience through bi-lateral brain stimulation (switching between right and left hands). Our conversations have no agenda; when we run out of things to talk about, we pull questions from our Common Ground jar. Leashmaking may seem like an odd Veteran-community building activity, but sometimes it’s the simplest actions that make the biggest impact on our lives.

Unbroken – Caregiver retreats. Unbroken is a time for rest, renewal, and re-creation. Unbroken is designed for caregivers who want time to listen to their body and rethink the stories that they are telling themselves and each other. Although the plans for our lives may have been broken, together we will explore all that remains unbroken and unfinished in our stories.

Undernourished – Arizona-based food insecurity support. Co-Op Survival partners with Paz de Cristo food bank in Mesa, Arizona. Twice a month, Veteran families let us know if they are experiencing food insecurity, and we work as an interface to the food bank for them. Often, Veteran families won’t ask for help with this problem.

Underemployed – Funds for Veteran Caregivers. We never sell our leashes, but, when a community member or corporation donates $50 or more, we send them a leash as a gift. The leashes we send come from our Underemployed program. We provide all materials to make a leash and pay a Veteran caregiver (as a contractor) $25/leash. Funds can be used for whatever the Veteran caregiver likes or needs.