Activision's Call of Duty Endowment Awards $25,000 Grant to Still Serving Veterans

Grant will help assist veterans with job training and employment placement

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Call of Duty Endowment announced today that it will donate $25,000 to Still Serving Veterans (SSV) to help support their Veterans Employment Transition Initiative (VETI).  Still Serving Veterans is a not-for-profit organization based in Huntsville, Alabama, that provides veterans with a holistic support services approach to job training, education, career transition, VA benefits maximization, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/TBI).  

Col. Roger Dimsdale, (USA-Ret.), an advisory council member to the Call of Duty Endowment, made the announcement at the annual conference of the Association of the United States Army.  In his remarks, Dimsdale explained why SSV was chosen to receive the grant: "Still Serving Veterans works vigorously and aggressively to advocate for our nation's veterans, and their strong focus on facilitating veterans' transition and reintegration back into the civilian workforce is one of the key ingredients the Call of Duty Endowment looks for when examining potential grant recipients."

Dimsdale added, "There are hundreds of thousands of veterans who proudly served in the Armed Forces who cannot find work these days, but if groups such as SSV can continue to  provide them with the training and one-on-one counseling they need to find employment, many of them will be able to find sustainable and good-paying careers for the 21st century."

The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit, public benefit corporation, which was created by Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) in November 2009. The organization seeks to help veterans transitioning to civilian life, find work and establish careers, and to assist other organizations that provide job placement and training.

Upon receiving the grant, Will Webb, President of Still Serving Veterans, expressed his gratitude to the Call of Duty Endowment, "SSV needs the support of a variety of donors from both the public and private sectors to continue our mission with VETI. Having Activision and the Call of Duty Endowment join us in this cause will give hope to the many veterans we assist and give them encouragement in knowing that the challenges they face are not going unnoticed."

The issue of unemployment among veterans is a grave issue facing the nation. This past spring, the Labor Department announced the unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 21.1 percent, almost double the national average.  

Activision Blizzard, a worldwide online, PC and console video game publisher of the best-selling Call of Duty® video game franchise, created the Call of Duty Endowment with a commitment to donate and raise millions of dollars to help increase awareness of veterans' unemployment.

About The Call of Duty Endowment:

The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit, public benefit corporation created by Activision Blizzard.  The organization seeks to help soldiers transitioning to civilian life find work and establish careers and to assist organizations that provide job placement and training. For more information about The Call of Duty Endowment, please visit www.callofdutyendowment.org.

About Still Serving Veterans:

Founded in 2005, Still Serving Veterans (SSV) has helped more than 4100 wounded warriors, veterans and their families connect with the services they need to deal with life changing injuries while reintegrating into post-military lives and meaningful new careers.  For more information about SSV, please visit www.stillservingveterans.org.

SOURCE Call of Duty Endowment