GIVV helping veterans and seeing success
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By Pamela Permar-Shierling
From left: Shaw McVeigh, Kiwanis; Syliva Cashdollar, Executive Director Golden Isles Veterans Village; Audrey Gibbons, Kiwanis President Elect. (Islander staff photo)
Veteran George graduates the STAR program. Celebrating with him is STAR Director of Student Success Jayne Mathews and intern Dominic Gutierrez. (Provided photo)
The Golden Isles Veterans Village (GIVV) continues to see success among their veterans which is a credit to the program their residents must follow plus the energies of Executive Director Syliva Cashdollar.
Cashdollar is a Navy veteran who joined after graduating high school. During her six years in the Navy she served on the USS Ronald Reagan then earned her college degree. Her husband, still in the Navy, is stationed at Kings Bay.
Cashdollar spoke to the Brunswick Kiwanis club recently and told them, “I want GIVV to be a resource to all veterans.”
“Sometimes vets who are filing for their benefits for the first time need help and they can call on us for help,” she said. “You do not have to live at the Village for us to help you.”
The transitional program each veteran goes through includes health services, education and job training opportunities. The program is designed to provide the veteran with the skills to reintegrate back into society.
Veterans meet with their case manager a minimum of every two weeks but also on a daily or weekly basis if needed.
The Village is also dog and cat friendly.
GIVV has partnered with the STAR Foundation for veterans to go through the STAR program and these efforts have proven very successful. STAR instructors come to the GIVV every other Thursday to teach. STAR tailors its programs to what the veterans need. STAR helps with job applications, resume creation, mock job interviews, computer training, and financial literacy.
Cashdollar said the average age of the Village’s residents is 66. But not everyone is looking to retire. The Village took in its first resident in April 2025. To date 13 have moved on successfully to jobs, to their own home, or back to their families.
In fact one veteran who had his CDL (commercial driver’s license) now drives for Sea Island.
An 80 year old veteran living at the Village is working on financial literacy and recently led the Pledge of Allegiance during a Glynn County Commission meeting.
The Village’s Community Center is where veterans socialize, and the Center is popular especially during football season.
Recently Lt. Col. Allen West returned to the Village to lead a poker run which the GIVV plans to do annually.
“We were hoping for 30 riders,” Cashdollar said, “and ended up with 123 riders.”
GIVV vets participate in events including First Friday, the Brunswick Christmas parade, and the Rotary Chili Cook-off. “I think our chili was awesome considering the Village has no stove,” Cashdollar said.
Members from organizations present programs to the veterans, and the vets also participate in Trivia Nite at Tipsy’s. “We want them to see how life is,” Cashdollar said.
The Village has also adopted G St. and vets pick up trash three times a day. “We want to be a positive force in the neighborhood,” she said.
Several groups have come in and helped plant a garden which yielded a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes all of which have been given away, Cashdollar said.
The GIVV program is limited to three years to help veterans get back on their feet, find a job, go back to their family, or move into their own home.
To qualify for the GIVV program a veteran must be honorably discharged and must participate with a case manager and be willing to get out of the situation he or she is in.
Cashdollar said, “We will listen to someone with a dishonorable discharge. We also do background checks. We do not take just anyone.”
GIVV does work with the Veterans Administration to help homeless vets but their primary focus is on local veterans.
To find out more about GIVV:
https://goldenislesveteransvillage.org
or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067880576555
