Adopt-A-Vet
What is AAV?
As mentioned before, we understand military vets and their plights. As such, the Pressure Junkies Scuba Adopt-A-Vet (AAV) provides a way for veterans to obtain scuba training for free!
How Does It Work?
AAV works mostly on donations from caring and kind individuals and businesses, such as yourself. We accept donations of all sizes. Scuba courses cost a certain amount of money, and is usually competitive, depending on the agency used (I.E. SSI, PADI, NAUI, NASE, etc). As such, it isn't unusual to see many dive shops with nearly the same cost of courses. The cool thing about Pressure Junkies Scuba is that we are an SSI shop. This gives us greater latitude to bring a better cost point to our programs. Compare that to PADI, in which the home office, sets the course cost, and dive shops have NO latitude to adjust prices to remain competitive. Sometimes the cost of training includes gear, and sometimes not.
With the above said, your kind donation will be used at a minimum, to fund a diver's training materials. We are actively making every effort to include as much value in the training for as low a cost as possible, to minimize the potential out-of-pocket expenses as best we can. Being that veterans are all around the world, we wirst attempt to minimalize cost, by training within our business first. If this is impossible, we travel to the vet, to train them. If that isn't an option, we will then search for a reputable dive shop in that veteran's immediate area (or close to it), for them to train.
How Do I Become A Sponsor?
It is quite simple, really! You simply email us at pressurejunkiesscuba@gmail.com, tell us that you wish to be a sponsor, and then we go from there to collect your donation. As soon as we have a veteran in an open water scuba program, you will be informed as to the veteran you've adopted! In some cases, a donation might be too small to fully fund a veteran. If this is the case, a veteran might have multiple donors listed. Don't feel bad though! You still helped a veteran, and your donation means the world to us AND MORESO THEM!!
After you become a regular sponsor, you will be listed on our veteran sponsor page. If you'd like to be a donor, you will be listed on our donor page. Regardless of your donation status, you will receive a message from us regarding the veteran you sponsored. The veteran will also be listed on this website with their sponsor(s)/donor(s) listed.
Is this a 501(c)(3) Program?
As of right now, no. We are, however, diligently taking measures to obtain this status. The status will be listed as "The Pressure Junkies Foundation" (or something like that...we're just not sure yet), which will be part of Pressure Junkies Scuba. You can still claim your donation on your taxes though, as a charitable donation!