Award-winning nonprofit Pin-Ups For Vets is releasing its 15th annual calendar for 2021, which will raise money to support hospitalized veterans and deployed troops.
The 2021 Pin-Ups For Vets calendar features 12 female veterans who have swapped their uniforms for 1940’s style dresses, said its founder Gina Elise.
“In addition to helping these female veterans embrace their femininity again, many of the ladies have said that being involved with our organization has given them a renewed sense of purpose after transitioning out of the military,” she said. “It has given them a community again and a mission to give back.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Pin-Ups For Vets unveils its 2020 calendar
This year’s models served in all five branches of the American armed forces. Marine Corps veteran and avionics technician Monica Patrow said her uniform will always be the most powerful thing she has ever worn
“But with the uniform, comes uniformity," she said. “And being a female, you can lose your feminine touches. My Marines used to call me ‘a cool guy with long hair.’”
Patrow said pin-up girls are feminine, classy and beautiful.
"Being a pin-up shows that even though we spent years tying our combat boots and twirling our hair into buns to look more masculine, we are still beautiful women,” she said.
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Coast Guard Veteran and machinery technician Sarah Weber is currently working towards her doctorate in psychology. She said the best part of being involved with Pin-Ups For vets is the camaraderie.
“I work a lot with veterans in transition these days, on-campus and clinically, and it is clear to me how much benefit there is in maintaining a connection to a community of former or current service members,” she said. “However, in most traditional organizations meant for those purposes, it is difficult to find many women veterans. This is not the case with Pin-Ups For Vets.”
Pin-Ups For Vets has donated over $70,000 to help hospitals purchase new therapy equipment and to provide financial assistance for veterans’ healthcare program expansion across the United States, Elise said.
While the organization is usually in the middle of a 50-state VA hospital tour, due to the pandemic, it is now shipping out care packages enclosed with gifts of appreciation to hospitalized veterans around the country. The organization also continues to ship care packages to deployed U.S. troops around the globe.
The 2021 calendar can be purchased here or by sending a check to: Pin-Ups For Vets, PO Box 33, Claremont, CA 91711.