When Darrin Lang and Seth Burr founded their consulting company, LABUR, in 2009, they knew they wanted to make social responsibility a core part of the company’s mission.
“Helping people is at the heart of everything we do,” says Seth. “Our core values motivate us to serve others and influence positive change in the world around us, ensuring we are bettering the communities where we operate and beyond.”
They found their purpose helping Veterans and their Families. Each October for the past 11 years, Darrin and Seth have rallied their friends, coworkers and corporate network to come together to support programming for Veterans and their Families through their Home Base Golf Outing. The annual tournament raises money for Home Base, a national nonprofit founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Red Sox, dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war for Veterans, Service Members, Military Families and Families of the Fallen through world-class, direct clinical care, wellness, education and research.
Participants in the Home Base Golf Outing can play or attend the tournament, sponsor a foursome or just make a gift. To date, Darrin and Seth have raised more than $611,000 for Home Base.
Rallying for Veterans
Darren and Seth initially became aware of Home Base when they participated in Run to Home Base more than a decade ago. During that fundraiser, they learned that a golf tournament was not part of Home Base’s catalog of events. Since many of LABUR’s clients are Fortune 1000 companies, Darrin and Seth felt like a golf tournament would be a perfect way to recruit as many of their clients as possible to join them in support of Home Base.
“I think of myself as ‘chief evangelism officer’ at LABUR, spreading awareness and creating groundswell for Home Base,” Darrin says. “People need to know that the Home Base model of partnering with an academic medical center has proven to be so effective, and that’s something I always try to share with folks who get involved with Home Base through our tournament.”
Darrin’s commitment was driven and nurtured by one particular statistic: “Twenty-two Veterans take their own lives every day, and that has stuck with me since I learned about it. Hearing firsthand from Veterans at the tournament who have benefitted from Home Base’s lifesaving work really drives home how essential this organization is.”
Intensive Commitment
Darrin and Seth are especially passionate about funding Home Base’s Intensive Clinical Program (ICP), an outpatient treatment program designed to treat Veterans and their Family Members who are struggling with invisible wounds, like PTSD.
The program compresses two years of treatment into a two-week intensive that combines evidence-based therapy with complementary and alternative medicine. The ICP is staffed by Mass General clinicians and fitness and nutrition experts — all trained in Military culture and specializing in treating invisible wounds — and Veterans, Service Members and Military Family Members who are subject matter experts. The multidisciplinary approach offers high-level peer support rooted in shared life experiences.
As they continue to raise awareness around their work with Home Base, especially when speaking with colleagues and clients across the technology industry, Darrin says he emphasizes Home Base’s consistent trajectory of growth and expansion. Home Base started in New England, branched out to Arizona, Florida and London, and is now developing programming specifically for Native American Veterans. Home Base also has plans to continue to further their reach and expand the program’s greater impact by leveraging its collaborations with academic medical centers, like Mass General.
“We are so proud to support Home Base’s mission and to be part of this community dedicated to serving our Veterans,” Darrin says. “The work being done here has and continues to make a significant impact on Veteran wellness not only in the United States, but around the world.”
To support Home Base, click here.
To learn more about the Home Base Golf Outing Hosted by LABUR, click here.
