operation k.a.v.i.c.

operation k.a.v.i.c. History

After receiving quite a few sponsorship requests from local businesses to support their charities, Bryan Keller, our CEO got to thinking. Keller Logistics Group’s growth over the past few years has put us in a position to be able to choose a corporate philanthropy to support in the way major corporations fund raise for a cause near to their heart.  We believe that a responsible corporation gives back to its community.  We believe that companies help solve community issues.

While thinking about possible charities, Bryan determined Veterans would be our focus, for a few reasons:

• An industry fact stated that 30% of professional truck drivers are veterans, turns out, that statistics is true for employees of Keller Trucking.
• Tom Keller, our founder, is a veteran
• In 2014, employees’ jeans day money went to purchase gift cards for local veterans during the holidays. We received great feedback about how those gift cards positively helped our local veterans during the holidays.

To determine which organization would work best as a partner, we met with the Defiance County Veterans Services team. They were very excited our new initiative and told some interesting stories. One theme we heard over and over was that there gaps in the benefits provided to our veterans. For example, one veteran had a reoccurring dental infection. His benefits would pay for the antibiotics to get rid of the infection but would not pay to have the tooth removed; which was the best course of action. Most of us feel that the Veteran community is under-served.  They along with their families have sacrificed so much.  Our veterans have been through traumatic events that for some has prohibited them to live the lives that we live.  There are some that are one step away from a crisis that could cause them to lose their job and/or their home.  Its disturbing that with all the programs that are out there with a “veteran’s theme” there is this huge gap.

We, at Keller, are about fixing issues.  We felt this cause was our calling helping veterans when no one else will, helping them when they were one crisis away from devastation.  We believed we could make a difference in our community.  This is our purpose.

So, we decided to create our own fund that would fill the gaps in benefits. We partnered with Ravens Care of Defiance to handle the finances of the fund, which is a 501 (c) 3, giving our donors a tax advantage. The Veteran’s Office will determine the need and see what funds could help the veteran.  If there were no funds, they could spend up to $500 on each veteran/instance. If the need was bigger, they are to call Bryan.  I have never received a call that didn’t warrant going above the $500.

Next, our fund needed a name, so we went to our employees. We gave them two weeks to submit a name for the fund and from that Operation K.A.V.I.C. Keller | Assists | Veterans | In | Crisis was created.

We had the idea, the purpose, and now a name, next up how to raise money to support Operation K.A.V.I.C. We decided to host a free veterans and their family appreciation luncheon and provided business partners and local businesses the opportunity to sponsor the event. With overwhelming support from the community, we raised over $36,000 that first year!

Since then, the support for Operation K.A.V.I.C. continues to grow, along with the awareness in the veteran communities.