Events and Resources
Brentwood School provides significant support for Veterans in need through a variety of special events and opportunities, offering both essential services and enrichment.
Greater Los Angeles Stand Down
Brentwood School has been an organizing partner for the Greater Los Angeles Stand Down since 2017. The fall event offers a vast array of essential services for Veterans, from housing to health care, in one location.
The Stand Down location is lined with booths hosted by the VA, social service providers, and various nonprofits — including Brentwood School's Veterans Center for Recreation and Education (VCRE). Brentwood provides about 1,000 meals for the event, as well as all of the tables, chairs, tents, signage, and volunteer registration and management. Among the volunteers are Brentwood School employees, students, and parents/guardians, who serve food, carry supplies, set up tables, and share information about all the programs for Veterans that Brentwood School provides.
Adaptive Sports Day
Brentwood School partners with the West LA VA to host the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care Adaptive Sports Invitational, providing friendly competition in sports modified for people with disabilities — primarily Veterans injured while serving our country.
Veterans from all over the area compete in a wide range of sports at Brentwood’s Veterans Center for Recreation and Education (VCRE) athletic facilities, from basketball and pickleball to corn hole and goalball, a game for the visually impaired. All skill levels are welcome, and participants at the first invitational, in 2023, ranged from 20-somethings to Veterans in their 80s.
Brentwood School provides athletic facilities, staff, food, and student volunteers. The school hopes to host this inspirational event on campus each year.
Food Pantries
Each quarter, Brentwood School supplies and distributes provisions — including staples such as bread, butter, pasta, canned goods, and juice — for 150 to 250 Veterans at a farmers market-style food pantry on the VA campus. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, the school provides food as well as grocery gift cards. The school purchases the most-needed items, advised by the Center for Development and Civic Engagement at the VA.
Pet Clinic
Brentwood School cares not only about Veterans, but also about their beloved pets. During the summer, the school collaborated with Found Animals to offer a pet clinic for Veterans, part of the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program Housing & Pet Event.
At the West LA VA campus, Veterans had the opportunity — at no cost — to give their pets essential care, including vaccines, microchips for identification, flea and tick treatment, and deworming. Pet owners also had the chance to spoil their furry friends with groomings, nail trimmings, ear cleanings, and teeth brushing, thanks to partner organizations. Pets left the clinic healthier, more comfortable, and looking their best. Brentwood School served 500 lunches to pet owners that day.
The Pet Clinic was also a valuable source of information, thanks to participating organizations dedicated to pet care, adoption, and fostering. And the Michelson Found Animals Foundation ensured that no pet left “empty-pawed” and provided free pet food and essential supplies, such as leashes, beds, and collars.
Some dogs, like Tank (pictured), received critical care through the Pet Clinic for Veterans, relieving their owners of the significant financial burden of veterinary bills. Forty-one furry Veteran companions received wellness and grooming services that day, and Brentwood School was proud to celebrate the bond between Veterans and their four-legged friends.
At Brentwood, we offer care for Veterans pets every day. The Welcome Center at the Veterans Center for Recreation and Education (VCRE) stocks a pet food pantry with canned food and kibble, serving Veterans who need emergency support for their pets' nutrition. There is also a limited supply of dog toys, treats, bowls, collars, and leashes.
Imagination Workshop
Each June, residents at New Directions, a transitional housing program on the West LA VA campus, perform in a Brentwood School theater — part of a program that strives to provide healing through theater.
The program, through Imagination Workshop, connects Veterans who have experienced trauma with theater professionals. The result: an original production and, just possibly, the kind of relief for PTSD that creative therapies have been shown to provide.
Veterans command the stage and fill the audience. Brentwood School provides theater space, rehearsal space, refreshments, and a technical director to handle sound and light.
Tickets to Games and Performances
Veterans are welcome to attend Brentwood School plays, concerts, and sporting events at no cost. Registered VCRE members receive email invitations to select upcoming events. If you're a VCRE member, be sure we know your current email — send email address changes to vcre@bwscampus.com.
The John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series
Veterans have free access to the John Hutson Memorial Guest Lecture Series, which has brought renowned authorities in literature, journalism, science, the arts, history, philosophy, and politics to campus.
Named for one of the school’s first faculty members, a beloved teacher and historian, the lecture series was established in 1996 and has featured luminaries including Maya Angelou, Kurt Vonnegut, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, Jhumpa Lahiri, Daniel Pink, Malcolm Gladwell, Khaled Hosseini, Gloria Steinem, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Erik Larson, and Amor Towles. Veterans who are registered members of the VCRE will receive information about the lectures.
Parent University
One of the Brentwood School Parents Association’s signature events, a half-day conference known as Parent University is open to Veterans at no cost. The next Parent University will be during the 2024-25 school year. The theme of the most recent Parent University was “Cracking the Code on Anxiety, Pressure, and Purpose.”