A church on Nashville’s west side has sat for years with no purpose. CreatiVets, an organization for wounded veterans, saw the church’s potential, but it came with a hefty Nashville real estate price tag of $3.35 million.
Thankfully, Gary Sinise saw the potential too. The actor best known for his role as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, donated $1 million to CreatiVets this spring to help buy the church for veterans to have a place to go to immerse themselves in songwriting, music, and other artistic avenues.
“Quite often our veterans don’t want any help. But through art and theatre as well, acting out what they are going through can be very, very beneficial,” Sinise told the Associated Press.
The Gary Sinise Foundation has given to CreatiVets the last two years but nothing compared to the million-dollar gift, according to CreatiVets Co-Founder and Executive Director Richard Casper. Casper, who started CreatiVets in 2013, called Sinise’s donation a catalyst for the non-profit’s mission.
“It will accelerate the opening of our Nashville art and music center, expand access to life-saving songwriting and visual arts programs, and help us drive down the waitlist of veterans seeking creative healing,” he said.
Two other donors who remained anonymous each gave $1 million toward the purchase of the church, which was finalized in July. Other influential people, including Grammy Award-winning artist Amy Grant, also donated toward the effort. Grant and Sinise toured the property in person in the spring and wanted to make CreatiVets’ vision a reality.
Part of the CreatiVets’ new home will be a performance center dedicated to Sinise’s late son, Mac, who died in 2024 after a battle with cancer. Casper said Mac loved music and was very involved with helping veterans through his father’s foundation.
The Academy Award-nominated actor started his foundation in 2011 to help military veterans, first responders, and their families. The foundation supports programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, and build. Programs like CreatiVets.
Casper said the funding so far for the new location has been a blessing. To restore the church that’s been left untouched since at least 2017, the non-profit needs at least $1.9 million for basic renovations. After that is completed, they’ll need additional support for office supplies.
At CreatiVets’ current location in the 12 South area of Nashville, veterans can only use the space to its full potential after working hours because it shares space with another business. Casper has fought for the empty church as a new space for more than a year. His goal of providing a 24-hour oasis for veterans keeps him moving through any setback he faces. A new space is needed to play music and have access to other machinery, sometimes noisy, round-the-clock.
The plan is to have the new CreatiVets music center open by next fall.
If you want to donate to CreatiVets, you can visit their website here.
The organization is hosting a fundraiser on Wednesday at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. You can buy tickets to “Stars and Scars to Scripts” featuring performances by Vince Gill, Charles Esten, Kalsey Kulyk, and Jay Demarcus here.
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