VIRGINIA BEACH, VA / ACCESS Newswire / January 17, 2025 / In 2024, over 6,000 Veterans and their families received much needed relief thanks to a charitable initiative from Born Primitive, a Veteran owned apparel and footwear brand, who pledged to pay off $5 million in Veteran medical bill debt by Veterans Day. Thanks to an outpouring of support from their customers, Born Primitive was able to more than double their initial pledge to eliminate $11 million in Veteran medical bill debt just before the holiday season.
A Pledge Rooted In Military Roots
For Bear Handlon, co-founder and CEO of Born Primitive, the desire to address Veteran medical debt was personal. As a former Navy SEAL, Handlon has seen firsthand how medical debt can destroy families within the Veteran community and add to the challenges of re-entry.
"Financial distress can be a major contributing factor to Veteran suicide, which is something that plagues our Veteran community. No one deliberately plans to incur medical bill debt, but it can absolutely crush a family and add to the burden they are already carrying," says Bear Handlon. "We wanted to leverage our platform here at Born Primitive to help those who raised their hand and took an oath to defend our country."
Initially, Born Primitive paid off $2.5 million in Veteran medical bill debt with a goal to pay off $5 million by Veterans Day. From November 8 - 11, they pledged 100% of profits from their online store, bornprimitive.com, to reach their $5 million goal.
Such an initiative is hardly new for Born Primitive. Since its founding in 2014, the company has donated over $2 million to various Veteran, First Responder and Cancer Prevention charities, all stemming from the brand's unique sense of purpose.
An Overwhelming Response
Born Primitive's customers have loyally supported their initiatives to serve the Veteran community for over a decade, but this response was more than Handlon could have imagined.
"We were confident that our customers would help us reach our $5 million goal, but realized quickly that this was catching fire in ways we couldn't have predicted. Thousands of people reached out from across the country to shop and see how else they could support the cause," says Handlon. "The decision to double the initial pledge was an easy one- our goal was to help as many struggling Veterans as possible this holiday season. And that's exactly what we did."
Born Primitive partnered up with ForgiveCo, a public benefit corporation, to facilitate the debt forgiveness through their random acts of kindness model. Veterans who received the medical debt relief were notified of the good news via a letter in the mail.
Countless Veterans wrote and called in to Born Primitive after receiving their forgiveness letter. Handlon says of hearing from the beneficiaries, "Learning their stories was incredibly humbling. People like Wesley, a Marine Corps Veteran who had nearly $183,000 in medical debt because of a spinal injury that had left him temporarily paralyzed, were able to get a fresh start. Many of these Veterans have described it as a miracle that has changed their lives and even their outlook, and I'm grateful for the generosity our customers showed to help these men and women."
Born Primitive's work to give back to the Veteran community and bring awareness to Veteran issues is far from over. Handlon says, "Supporting our service men and women is foundational to who we are as a company and why we do what we do. We will continue to leverage our platform at Born Primitive to do good. That's a promise."
About Born Primitive
Born Primitive was founded in 2014 by former Navy SEAL Lieutenant Bear Handlon and Co-Founder Mallory Riley out of a passion for Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit. Currently, the apparel and footwear brand offers over 1,200 products featuring a collection of athletic and lifestyle apparel for men and women including fitness apparel, athleisure, tactical, outdoor/hunting, denim, performance footwear and more.
Media Details:
Contact Name: Claire Strohl
Company Name: Born Primitive, LLC
Email Address: cstrohl@bornprimitive.com
Website URL: https://bornprimitive.com/
SOURCE: Born Primitive
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