[Scpg] A Greater Mission /veterans are not transitioning well/Surprisingly, organic farming is offering a way to recovery like nothing else.

Sun May 29 09:16:02 PDT 2011

Trailer

http://vimeo.com/14863526

A Greater Mission - 13 Min. Preview
http://vimeo.com/14348137

  Our veterans are not transitioning well... from 
war to civilian life. The reasons are many, the 
solutions are few.

Surprisingly, organic farming is offering a way 
to recovery like nothing else. Vets are helping 
each other, outside of any government program, 
with an "each one teach one" attitude. Their 
passion is shining a light in the darkness.

There's more to this story  http://www.walkyourtalk.tv/home.php.

If you'd like to be a part of the feature, please 
contact dulanie at walkyourtalk.tv or 
ray at cuttothestory.com.

Director's Notes
I first became aware of this story at the 
Eco-Farm Conference a couple of years ago.  This 
annual event draws the flannel-shirt, organic 
crowd of farm-related folks. I had a booth to 
sell my films. The Farmer-Veteran Coalition was 
having a get-together that night, where Michael 
O'Gorman explained their program of networking 
vets with mentor farmers/ranchers/educators. I 
met two young men, military veterans, who had 
also served doing agriculture in the Peace Corps 
together.  That really got my interest going.  

Since that night I have been driven to tell this 
story of veterans transitioning back, recovering 
from the trauma of war, by turning to the gifts 
of the land through farming.  I think the thing 
that has surprised me most are the veterans 
themselves. I don't know who I really thought 
they would be, but I've met a group of deep 
thinking, innovative, fiercely independent young 
men and women who are committed to a life of 
service to their community. And they've chosen 
organic agriculture as their new mission.

Given what I know about how unsustainable our 
petrol-chemical-driven food system is, how 
precarious our food security has become, and the 
fact that the majority of our farmers are 
retiring, I realized that we couldn't have a 
better blessing than these veterans stepping up 
to take charge. As Michael O'Gorman says, "we 
need them as much as they need us."

Luckily, I live in California, where a lot of 
diverse agriculture goes on. So it's been 
relatively easy to get enough interviews to put 
together this preview reel to use for 
fundraising; because this is a much larger, 
national story that is unfolding rapidly.  I'm 
hoping that anyone who watches it will feel moved 
to donate something to the film*, so I can get 
out across America to capture more stories and 
continue producing this feature documentary that 
can't get made soon enough. We have many 
thousands of veterans returning from war.  They 
need jobs and a new missionŠa greater missionŠ 
when they get here.

*(Anyone who sponsors at $30 or more will get a 
copy of the film when completed.)

Testimonials
"We all want to be safe, and we all want to eat 
well, but few of us are willing to get our hands 
bloody or dirty.  "A Greater Mission" movingly 
demonstrates the profound connection of the 
battlefield to the farm and illuminates the 
redemptive power of the latter to help heal the 
wounded heroes who have suffered so dearly for 
us."
J.B. White
Screenwriter
"This is fantastic and it's positive. People can 
learn, feel and I say, "Wow!" It's moving and in 
the long term, can save all our lives from big 
corporations killing us with chemicals."
Rita Taggart
Actress, Wife of Haskell Wexler
"I watched the five-minute version, and it's 
great. I'd like to write a magazine article about 
the vets' farming project and your documentary."
Jerry Dunn
Columnist and Travel Writer
"Please keep me posted on this. It's such an important film."
Connie Zalk
Princeton Review
"It's an inspirational piece. I'm a vet from a 
past war and I know what it means."
Arnold Solowa
Talent Manager, Producer
"This program is so obviously a GREAT IDEA and 
the time has most definitely come."
Albert Ihde, Producer
Santa Barbara Theater Company
"Wow! That's a really powerful reel - both in 
message and content. The visuals were just 
incredible!"
Ken Eros
Musician, Music Producer
"This is wonderful! Very exciting! We need to help our returning veterans."
Constance Greenfield
Connecticut Democratic Party Chair
"I got goosebumps, and then the tears welled up."
Kate Martin
Pacifica University
"You've taken what might seem like a not-so-sexy 
topic of organic agriculture and infused it with 
passionate stories of the heart."
Nancy Giuliani
Therapist
"What a unique and powerful story.  These 
veterans paid dearly for our energy policy, now 
they are taking on our food system. Bravo!"
John Willis
Marketing Consultant
"At first I thought, military goes organic? How 
odd.  But as the preview of the film progressed, 
it absolutely made all the sense in the world to 
me that these veterans want to give something 
healthy back to the world. That is their 
redemption."
Jim Rockwell
Retired Engineer
JOIN THE MISSION:
All donations will receive a copy of the 
completed film. Contact us about SCREEN CREDITS 
for larger donations & corporate sponsorships.
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