Desert Bingo to benefit veteran outreach Mil-Tree’s Art of War programming on Monday (7/13)

This Monday, July 13, Desert Bingo at the Red Dog Saloon will raise funds for our local veteran outreach Mil-Tree to benefit their upcoming Art of War programming. Reporter Gabriel Hart spoke with Mil-Tree’s Founder Cheryl Montelle and Executive Director Danielle Giudici Wallis about their upcoming fall schedule…

Desert Bingo’s rowdy, competitive, obscenity-riddled fun is only one part of its mission every other Monday night, where the main objective is to raise funds for a local charity. This Monday, July 13 will benefit Mil-Tree’s continued Art of War programming to help veterans, active-duty military, and civilians to bridge the gap of isolation and heal the psychic wounds of battle. 

This August, Mil-Tree will host an online reading of Homer’s The Odyssey, led by Dr. Ed Tick (author of War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Mil-Tree founder Cheryl Montell says Tick inspired her to start Mil-Tree in 2013 after reading his book.

“Frankly Dr. Ed Tick is why I started Mil-Tree in the first place. He is a psychologist and also a scholar in Greek mythology and he ended up working with a lot of Vietnam vets and out of doing that he formed his own nonprofit called Soldier’s Heart which was on the east coast.”

Mil-Tree’s Art of War program returns by popular demand after a successful response from last year’s installment. Executive Director Danielle Giudici Wallis explains what participants and audiences can expect in the fall.

“It’s been a project that Mil-Tree has done over the years. We pair veteran artists and writers with civilian artists and writers, so they’re basically in dialogue between the work and the writing and we had a wonderful opening reception last December where we had spoken word and readings, a great turn out and there was such a desire to see that happen again, so we put together a grant. We were lucky to get funding from the Measure Y partnership from Yucca valley,” said Wallis.

Dr. Tick’s reading of Homer’s Odyssey will go from August through September, followed by a writing workshop facilitated by English professor and creative writing teacher Ruth Nolan. For the following three months, visual artists will pair off with writers to respond to work that will be critiqued by Hey There Project’s Aaron Smith, before the work is featured in a group show at Hi-Desert Artists. While the program is funded by a grant, the money raised at Monday night’s Desert Bingo will go towards publishing a book featuring all the work produced from Art of War. If you can’t make it to bingo, Montelle said they are always taking donations through their website at: mil-tree.org. Those interested in participating in Art of War can apply through the site as well. 

Desert Bingo starts at 6:00 p.m. this Monday at Red Dog Saloon in Pioneertown.