To the editor:
“Support Our Troops” is a slogan we all agree with. Yet Monday night at a presentation by the Veterans Resource Center on the south end of Whidbey Island to garner support for returning veterans, very few showed up.
It was a local event with not too much publicity, and probably few reading this letter heard about it.
I’d be the first to agree it takes some oomph to get me out of the house at night. But in addition to some flyers, a number of local people were personally invited and most everyone expressed interest saying they’d like to attend — yet few came.
(One disabled veteran who was looking forward to coming, called at the last minute to say two VA doctors’ meetings that day dragged on so long they couldn’t make it.)
We all mean well. But we don’t have much skin in the game. Judith Gorman, the presenter, has skin in the game.
Her son, Orrin, served in Afghanistan and after struggling for several years with PTSD and ill-prepared community support, committed suicide this past May.
The new Veterans Resource Center, which will soon be opening a “Community Activity Center” at 1796 Main St. in Freeland, is designed to provide support for the almost 2,000 vets in Island County who have returned home to Whidbey since 2001 from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Island County has some 12,000 veterans according to the 2000 Census.)
Many of these young veterans and their families are now struggling to fit back into civilian life, reluctant to talk about their experiences, and at loose ends. You can check it out in person in Freeland and at www.vetsresourcecenter.org.
The VRC is a non-political and non-religious organization (with nonprofit 501(c)3 status), but those involved are passionate about taking care of the young men and women who we send off to protect our values and our freedoms.
It’s too easy to put a flag and a bumper sticker on our car saying “Support Our Troops” and think we have done our part.
But with these veterans returning home, it takes more than that. We as individuals and as communities need to help carry the burden of the war experience of our returning veterans. Its all about caring and doing.
The kick-off event of the activity center will be a “Music Fest” and cookout with live entertainment today to raise awareness and money while having fun.
Call 321-7226 to find out how you can participate and buy a few raffle tickets to help with the rent.
Each of us can feel good about being involved in this worthwhile endeavor.
Hal Harber
Clinton
