"No one tells the veterans' story better than a veteran. Veterans themselves should benefit from art displays, not vendors who sell the VA pricey art."
Adam Andrzejewski, CEO at OpenTheBooks.com
FOX News | August 5, 2016
Has Healthcare Improved for Veterans?
VA spent $20 Million on Art Collection during scandal
Special Report with Bret Baier | August 1, 2016
Watch FOX News | "Play" the embedded video above
Today,
FOX News reporter Cristina Corbin showcases our common-sense call to display veteran art in VA medical centers, not pricey art.
Please help spread the word to the talented artists who served our country. At the Twitter hashtag #VetsArt4VA, veterans can upload their artwork and show the VA what they are missing out on.
We were inspired to start this campaign by Beverly Perlson at The Band of Mothers based in Illinois. Ms. Perlson writes:
"... let's all do our part and send the VA Secretary our own artwork! Artwork that will truly help heal the hearts of our Veterans, who surely feel abandoned as they desperately seek the medical care that was promised to them."
Veterans can share and upload their artwork at #VetsArt4VA.
The OpenTheBooks.com twitter handle is @open_the_books.
Please join us!
Last week,
ABC News showcased our OpenTheBooks oversight report detailing how $20 million was spent on art during the VA scandal.
Watch our
ABC Good Morning America segment
here. Read our summary
here at
Forbes, The VA's $20 Million Luxury Art Obsession.
U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (IL)
wrote VA Secretary Robert McDonald advocating an immediate moratorium on artwork here and a second letter has demanded transparency on an upscale Hines VA Center sculpture.
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (IA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
wrote VA Secretary McDonald a letter yesterday demanding accountability on such purchases as the $483,000 'cubed-rock' sculpture and the two statutes commissioned for blind veterans costing $670,000.
Both letters from Sen. Kirk and Sen. Grassley heavily cited our VA research and oversight findings at OpenTheBooks.com.
Last month, partnering with the
COX Media Washington, DC Bureau investigative reporter
Justin Gray, we
found Christmas trees priced like cars and sculptures that cost more than five-bedroom homes.
You now have the tools and data to hold the VA accountable.