Support Warrior Avenues's Mission

Boots2Roots is the only organization in Maine specifically focused on preparing active duty military members up to a year before they begin their transition for immediate success in Maine, while providing a pipeline of new workforce talent to Maine Employers.

Who we work with:

Active duty military members and their families who are planning to transition to Maine, up to a year before they come to Maine.

What we provide:

Personalized self-assessment, resume, and interview coaching, peer mentoring, Maine business connections, and local networking.

Our Transition Assistance Programs offer the opportunity to build peer support, friendships, and guidance to help the Veterans or spouses become successful in their community. 

The Mentor Leadership Program is a ten month program consisting of classroom, mentoring, networking, and community service events.

Camaraderie Foundation partners with local business members to provide a leadership program to assist transitioning service members and spouses in preparing for a career in the local community.  We will have two classes of 15 individuals each, one in Orlando and one in Tampa. This program is free of charge.

Camaraderie also serves as a referral source for jobs in the local area.

The GallantFew STAR (Self Training And Response-ability) Program supports the main areas of transition from military service to civilian life: Emotional, Spiritual, Physical, Professional, and Social.

Emotional: A personal growth mindset with a sound emotional state.

Physical: Healthy and fit lifestyle.

Spiritual: A life of purpose and direction.

Professional: A successful career, education, and financial growth.

Social: Integration and leadership in civilian communities.

Advocating for Inclusion in Science and Tech

The transition from military service to civilian life can be complex and challenging for veterans. With both visible and invisible wounds, doubt and uncertainty about the future are common. Cookie-cutter solutions don't fit every veteran's needs.

That's why our foundation was started by veterans, for veterans. We've been through these transitions ourselves and immersed in the support programs. Now we step up to redirect fellow veterans to new passions for science, technology, and community.

We brought the name "Lift and Shift" with us from our service. When leaders direct soldiers in combat, the terms lift fire and shift fire are used to defeat the bad guys around the world.

We want to direct that "fire," that passion, toward a new mission. We want to lift people up and shift them toward new passions in science and technology.

Programs that Served Our Mission and Community

The Lift And Shift Foundation was officially incorporated in 2017, and in 2018 received IRS approval as a 501c3 public charity. We started with a simple idea — help veterans.

That idea grew from a pilot program serving 12 veterans, into a mission that supports service members and their families while they transition to new lives.

We've been fortunate to work with some amazing people, and we're proud of the programs we created. Last year, for the first time, we added a new program for students regardless of their military affiliation.

This new internship program is a natural extension of our mission, and we're excited to see it grow. We're also excited to see our veteran programs grow.

Our Noteworthy Programs Include:

Battle of the Bots: In 2019 we served nearly 200 people hosting quarterly in-person robot events for veterans and their families

Battle of the Bots | Design Team: While quarantined during COVID our founder hosted a design team of 6 veterans in our Slack workspace

Lift & Shift Learning Series: COVID transformed our learning series into dozens of Zoom workshops for hundreds of veterans nationwide ranging from video game coding to 3d printing

Since 1990, we have provided 125,000 members of our community with the resources, confidence, and skills they need to find and maintain gainful employment and achieve lasting economic stability. 

This coalition recognized the need for a coordinated cross-system effort to address the challenges that transitioning post 9/11 active-duty military servicemembers, spouses and recent veterans were facing. These obstacles included specifically, but not limited to:

Unemployment and Under-Employment

Lack of Affordable Housing

Physical, Psychological and Emotional Injuries

Confusion or Disorientation as a Civilian

To succeed post-service, our transitioning servicemembers and spouses often need support in establishing post-service goals that are ambitious but attainable. They also require assistance in identifying and connecting to the resources and services best-suited to help them attain their goals. 

Zero8Hundred provides this assistance by matching transitioning personnel 1:1 with a military-connected (veteran or military spouse) counselor – referred to as a Peer Navigators – who comes alongside them to help identify their unique needs and then connects them to those organizations and resources available to meet those needs anywhere in San Diego, Riverside, Imperial or Orange counties. 

Since becoming a nationally recognized independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization in January 2019, Zero8Hundred has proactively linked over 4,500 transitioning servicemembers and their spouses to a broad range of community resources and opportunities to best support their employment, education, basic needs, health and well-being, and social/community connections. Our #1 objective is to ease our veterans' transition to civilian life.