Going to Bat for Baldwin Wallace Veterans

Baldwin Wallace University has always valued military veterans. On the school’s Berea campus, a Veterans Resource Center provides student veterans support as they transition to civilian life.

“Some of our veterans have experienced things no one can imagine,” says Nancy Jirousek, Baldwin Wallace’s director of adult, transfer and military services. “It’s nice for them to have a place to go.”

Since the resource center opened in 2016, it has helped veterans find benefits available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and sign up for VA loans. Veteran students can reach out for mental health counseling at the center or just relax and study quietly. But the space, in the lower level of the Student Activity Center, had been relatively cramped, consisting of just one open room and an office.

In July, Baldwin Wallace moved the resource center to a bigger and better place, thanks to an unexpected and unlikely partnership.

The Cleveland Indians and Major League Baseball (MLB), as part of its 2019 All-Star Legacy Initiative, donated money and resources toward the $200,000 renovation of a 101-year-old home on the Baldwin Wallace campus. The home has become the university’s new All-Star Student Veterans Center.

The renovation started in April and finished in time for a July 5 ribbon cutting. Workers gutted and rebuilt the home’s interior, which now contains a lounge, kitchen and dining area on the first floor. Upstairs bedrooms were converted into a quiet study room, a program room and an office.

The home’s yard contains an area for summertime barbeques and other social events. A handicapped ramp was added to the house. Randy Stevenson, military student services coordinator  at Baldwin Wallace and a U.S. Army veteran, says the home innovation is more important than most people realize.

“Suicide is prevalent among veterans — 20 veterans commit suicide a day,” Stevenson says. “This resource center will allow our student veterans to support each other. And if they need counseling, they can get help.”

All-Star assistance

Every year, the MLB partners with the All-Star Game’s host team to contribute millions of dollars toward charitable projects in that team’s city. MLB funds baseball field improvements and veterans’ causes and assists local chapters of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

The league and the Indians spent $5 million on four Greater Cleveland projects this year. They also refurbished a ballfield in Luke Easter Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive; installed a new artificial-turf field at Talty Field in Cleveland Metroparks’ Brookside Reservation; and set up digital equipment in the Boys & Girls Clubs East Tech Teen Center on East 55th Street.

As a bonus, MLB and the Indians replaced a playground built in 1997, which was part of the very first MLB Legacy project, at the Boys & Girls Clubs’ King Kennedy Club on East 59th Street.

Rebecca Kodysh, executive director of community impact with the Indians, says the Baldwin Wallace Veterans Center was a perfect fit for the Legacy Initiative. 

“The house at Baldwin Wallace is central to the campus,” Kodysh says. “They already had a student center there, but this is a significant upgrade. It will be a great place for veterans to fellowship, study and spend time.”

Baldwin Wallace purchased the century home from an alum. It’s among several houses the university owns for temporary faculty and other visitors. 

Stevenson says Baldwin Wallace became aware of MLB’s Legacy Project earlier this year from Mission Continues, a St. Louis-based nonprofit that works with veterans. The league had contacted the Missions Continues in Cleveland. 

Mike Brown, a 2018 Baldwin Wallace graduate, is an organizer for the Mission Continues in Cleveland. He recommended his alma mater to MLB. 

“It took a few days for us to identify this house as a possible idea,” Jirousek says. “We already had a veterans resource center on campus, but we were starting to outgrow the space.”

MLB and the Indians, in addition to donating money, worked with area vendors and corporations to secure in-kind services, which helped reduce the budget. For example, Lowe’s contributed flooring, paint and appliances. 

“We are appreciative of the Cleveland Indians and MLB for doing this for us,” Jirousek says. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise.”

Military connections

Baldwin Wallace experienced an influx of student veterans after Congress passed the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008. The federal government started covering 100 percent of tuition for veterans serving in the military for a certain number of months. Veterans can also transfer those benefits to family members.

Since then, between 80 and more than 100 student veterans, and another 20 or so family members, have attended Baldwin Wallace every semester. Military reservists are also enrolling. That prompted the establishment of the Veterans Resource Center three years ago.

“Some veterans never get deployed overseas, but they are coming off active duty and having trouble acclimating to civilian life,” Stevenson says. “So, it’s good to be around like-minded people.”

Stevenson says Baldwin Wallace has forged relationships with outside organizations such as the Cuyahoga County Veterans Service Commission, Parma VA Clinic and Parma Vet Center.

“Every Tuesday we have a veterans community hour that brings in people from those agencies to talk about veteran services like temporary financial assistance and mental health counseling,” Stevenson says.

The university also created a Veteran Support Team consisting of faculty and administration members and students who are members of the campus Student Veterans Organization, a chapter of Student Veterans of America. The team’s mission is to help veterans switch from military service to nonmilitary life.

“It’s all about building a support system,” Jirousek says. “We try to elevate the profile of veterans on campus.”