Decades ago, John Philips started the 4 Others Foundation alongside his wife Pam and their family. They support organizations that align with their foundation’s pillars with an emphasis on ensuring values-based alignment, health, education or welfare. Pam’s storied career as a teacher is a core reason why education is a component of the foundation’s pillars. Additionally, Pam’s father served as a dentist in the military, which helps explain why an organization like ours would align so well with the heart of their family and foundation.
“We know that veterans and military families are not receiving all the benefits they should and they could,” says Jill Swisher, John’s daughter and the foundation’s grants director. Jill recalled that when she learned about our organization, “just the name kind of stopped me in my tracks. It’s so horrible knowing that so many men and women who have given their lives, put themselves on the line … and you have to have a support called Stop Soldier Suicide. It grabbed my attention.”
As Jill dug further into the mission and work of our organization, she said she was pleased to see that we are doing more than just reacting. In particular, the family appreciated that our clinical team, ROGER Wellness Service, offers not only one-on-one support for veterans, but also external resources to support veterans wellness needs. Not only that, our internal culture and care for our own team was something that resonated with her. For example, each month our team has a wellness day to create a three-day-weekend and proactive respite so that we can remain well for this important mission.
Another proactive aspect of our work that resonated with Jill and the Philips family is our data-driven approach to saving lives at scale, through the Black Box Project.
“The Black Box Project is brilliant,” Jill says, referring to our program through which families temporarily loan us their loved ones' digital devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for our team of forensic experts to examine the data. Insights are then harnessed to gain better insight into crisis situations, which Stop Soldier Suicide then implements into suicide-specific care. “(Stop Soldier Suicide is) trying to dig deep and work yourself out of a job, to find out why this is happening and actually try to stop it from happening. This was the first veterans’ group that had this component.”
In its four years as a supporter, the 4 Others Foundation has made a profound impact on Stop Soldier Suicide, contributing a total of $100,000. This generous support has been particularly transformative, as the Foundation strategically uses their gifts to inspire additional giving with a match, effectively doubling the impact of their contributions. This means their $100,000 has effectively resulted in $175,000 in resources, soon to be $200,000, significantly enhancing Stop Soldier Suicide’s ability to support at-risk veterans and service members.
Jill hopes other foundations and donors will get involved with Stop Soldier Suicide’s mission, citing the evidence.
“The statistics about military veterans—very few are positive,” she says. “That needs to change. They are the reason we sleep comfortably at night.”
It will take all of us to reduce the rate of veteran suicide. Join the 4 Others Foundation in making a donation to help us solve the suicide crisis in the military while ensuring veterans and service members have access to mental health support when they need it most.