33rd Boro Platoon: Torchworking for US Vets and First Responders
The 33rd Boro Platoon is a donor-funded program dedicated to enriching the lives of returning veterans and first responders through glass art education. The program promotes camaraderie and creativity in civilian life.
About The Founder
Jeff Rutherford is an Iraqi veteran, former Marine, and glass artist. He discovered torchworking through a SGS program with Pima Community College after returning from Iraq. After a rocky reintroduction to civilian life, he discovered new ways to express himself and life-changing opportunities through torchworking. Today, he hopes introducing fellow returning vets to glass art torchworking might help them the way it helped him.”When I first got back it was so intense I couldn’t work. I couldn’t be in public places without having panic attacks and flashbacks. I never talked about it. I just bottled it up inside. But then I started torching and blowing glass, and over years of hard work and lots of frustration my PTSD has gotten better. Glassblowing has saved my life.”And when people started recognizing and purchasing his work (enough sometimes to where he needed an assistant just to keep up) he experienced a renewed sense of calm and purpose. Jeff Rutherford now hopes torchworking does the same for some of his fellow vets
About The Classes
Rutherford believes there’s a therapeutic nature to working with glass and a need for other types of therapy beyond round table support groups. Jeff has decided to teach glass art classes exclusively for veterans adjusting to civilian life.”My goal for these classes is to help other vets come to terms with their past while opening a door to a bright future…by teaching the skills needed to competently work with glass as an art form while continuing the camaraderie and brotherhood the vets already share. Hopefully, as the students continue with the classes, they’ll hone in new skills to help them regain the confidence needed to ‘re-enter’ the civilian world with a positive attitude, and a desire to make a positive impact.”
Make Jeff's Mission a Reality
Your donation directly funds a vet to participate in the 33rd Boro Platoon Program. Our goal is to offer this program completely free of charge to 6 returning men and women in uniform. In order to do that, we need $800 per veteran ($100 for every week of the program).Donate today to support this program. Please type in “Veterans” in the special notes section at checkout.If you are a vet or first responder interested in taking the class, please email [email protected] you to our community partner, Long Realty Cares Foundation, for supporting this program.