KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Torey Crawford takes it personally when he sees a homeless veteran.
“It touches me, because I know the struggle,” Crawford said.
After 18 years in the U.S. Army, Crawford found himself sleeping on a couch and unemployed.
The Raymore, Missouri, man co-founded a nonprofit, MOS, in 2020 to help veterans find employment and avoid homelessness.
MOS stands for Mastery of Self, but it's also a play on the military acronym for one's career field, military occupational specialty.
Crawford said many armed service members feel lost after leaving the military, especially if they discover their military occupational specialty doesn’t easily translate to the civilian world.
“All veterans know what an MOS is,” Crawford said. “Once you leave the military, you lose that identity. Now, we re-branded it to master yourself.”
So far, MOS has about five to 10 employers with which Crawford places veterans. One client, a man named Richard, got a job at Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas, which has been MOS’s biggest partner.
“Richard went from homeless and in transition to now having his own home, his own car, and being the guy you see who’s nothing but smiles,” Crawford said.
MOS helped Carlous Price regain his food handler’s license and is now working to get the Air Force veteran who loves to cook a job in a kitchen.
But Crawford and MOS have hit their own stumbling blocks, particularly with funding.
Crawford admits that, as a Black man leading a relatively new nonprofit without a long track record of success, funders often overlook him or grant money with restrictive conditions.
This week, the Give Black Week fundraiser, a partnership between the United Way and GIFT, will benefit Mastery of Self and four other Black-led organizations.
“Give Black is the goal,” Crawford said. “We get funding immediately. From that point, we can make a change, we can make a difference here in the community.”
The United Way hopes to raise $500,000 through this week’s campaign.
Employers interested in working with Mastery of Self to hire the veterans helps are encouraged to email the nonprofit at info@mosveteran.org.
