Easter Seals opens RI Veterans Count to help service members

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 4/16/15

Easter Seals Military and Veteran Services have assisted more than 8,500 veterans in New Hampshire since its inception in 2007, and now the program is expanding to Rhode Island.

Last Thursday, …

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Easter Seals opens RI Veterans Count to help service members

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Easter Seals Military and Veteran Services have assisted more than 8,500 veterans in New Hampshire since its inception in 2007, and now the program is expanding to Rhode Island.

Last Thursday, Easter Seals introduced Rhode Island’s Military and Veterans Services and its fundraising component, Veterans Count, at Iron Works Tavern in Warwick.

James Lawrence, a board member of Easter Seals Rhode Island, said Easter Seals is frequently exclusively thought to benefit children with disabilities or special needs with services and support. That’s not the case. He said, “As an organization we want to meet the unmet needs of our community. We have 75,000 veterans here in Rhode Island. That is a large population in our state that is going to be directly benefited by bringing a chapter to this state.”

Major General Harry Miller, an Army veteran of 35 years and executive director for Easter Seals Military and Veteran Services in New Hampshire, outlined Easter Seals’ role and the new chapter.

“Our intention is to take the successful model from New Hampshire and import it here,” he said.

He said the Easter Seals model provides a full spectrum of services from “cradle to grave” for not only serving military but also veterans from all generations and their families.

Miller called the Easter Seals a “do all, be all” service for military men and women.

Clients are paired with “care coordinators,” who then assess the situation referencing other pre-existing services or assisting themselves.

“If we don’t have the answer we know who will,” Miller said.

Congressman James Langevin, who watched the presentation and spoke with Lawrence and Miller before the event, said, “It is great that they are not trying to overtake any services or try to be better than what exists, but that they want to supplement existing programs and fill the void for our servicemen and -women.”

Care coordinators work with servicemen and -women on anything from workforce development, childcare resources, counseling, emergency financial services, homelessness and mental health concerns.

Miller explained that those serving in the military, especially those coming back from deployment, could suffer from PTSD and other mental health concerns. He said that Easter Seals Military and Veteran Services has intervened in the lives of 90 suicidal individuals preventing any harm.

“We are building relationships. We peel back the layers so we can address all the problems,” Miller said.

Lawrence said that through these relationships care coordinators can help clients not only in emergency situations but also long-term concerns.

“A lot of services stop when a solider is no longer in active duty, so there is a gap of services they would have otherwise had access to while in service,” Lawrence said. “We are here to help through all transitional phases, whether that is leaving duty, a deployment or a return from deployment.”

Veterans Count was also introduced at the event, which works as an educational and outreach fundraising component to Easter Seals services.

“Veterans Count is the philanthropic arm of our service going out there to raise awareness about the needs of our veterans and serving military and raising the money we need to help these families,” Miller said.

Langevin said, “I love the name because it’s true our veterans count for so much and this is clearly an important issue. We cannot do enough for our vets, and I am happy to provide support in any way I can.”

Ninety cents of every dollar donated to Veterans Count goes directly to assisting veterans, service members and their families.

For more information about Easter Seals RI, call 284-1000 or visit www.easterseals.com/rhodeisland. For more information about Veterans Count Rhode Island call 284-1000 or visit www.vetscount.org.

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