LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Their call to action went largely unheard, but leaders of an award-winning North Las Vegas nonprofit said they will continue to find a way to save veterans’ lives.
Kelly and Peter Guidry, co-founders of Forgotten not Gone, said their veteran suicide prevention nonprofit has helped save thousands of Las Vegas-based veterans. Their organization received high acclaim from the City of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.
“We were blessed to receive a grant from the city of North Las Vegas for two years in the amount of $1.6 million and that grant covered everything,” Kelly said.
The nonprofit immediately started work on finding bicycles that could accommodate a vast array of veterans—suffering from a variety of afflictions. Some of the modded vehicles cost as high as $23,000, with the typical bikes ranging around $8,000.
Once the grant ran out in September, Kelly said the biggest hurdle was paying rent to keep the nonprofit open.
“We’re too big now where we can just go work out of our home and stuff like that,” she said. “But we’re just not big enough where we can afford the type of overhead that’s just going on in the community right now.”
8 News Now reached out to North Las Vegas Councilman Scott Black who has visited the nonprofit multiple times. He asked the community to help the nonprofit, pointing to their impact on the city so far.
“The City of North Las Vegas is committed to helping our local veterans through various programs and community partnerships, such as Forgotten Not Gone, who offers great programs to those who have served. During the pandemic, the City was able to direct $1.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to Forgotten Not Gone, the largest grant the City issued. The nonprofit has helped more than 23,000 local veterans with those funds through its Veteran Trike Brigade. We urge anyone interested to get involved with this tremendous organization so they can continue empowering our veteran community.” -North Las Vegas Councilman Scott Black
Peter said he also received a call from Black who discussed potential warehouse options for the nonprofit.
“He found out about, you know, the dire need that we’re in right now,” Peter said. “And he said he was going to make a few phone calls see about warehouse spaces.”
The donations to Forgotten not Gone will go directly to help pay the rent for a potential site and the cost for storing many of the specialty bicycles.
This is a developing story.
