If Crisis Calls for Action, The NJ Veteran Community Respond with “Hero Day”
A team of veterans and their organizations are making a positive impact during New Jersey’s Covid-19 pandemic. The New Jersey Veterans Networks’ “Operation: Helping Heroes” serve two purposes, they provide meals and comestibles to veterans, and safeguarding equipment to emergency workers. Food and PPE have been sent to first responders, hospital laborers, and activated National Guardsmen throughout the state. Last winter, Operation: Helping Heroes delivered to over 170 children and over 50 families with food, resources, and gifts for children throughout the state for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The NJVN Heroes team are projecting to help more families in 2021 and have already geared up with local and national charities, as well as government agencies for more collections and distributions to NJ vets in need. This year’s tentative date is April 24th and has been declared “Hero Day”, as part of a mobile stand down called “Hope for Heroes”. Typically, the stand down is an event in which veterans are supplied with food, household saving resources, and utility bill assistance. Due to the state’s building occupancy limits of the pandemic, they are conducting this model as a mobile operation by bringing these services directly to veterans’ homes.
Veteran assistance programs such as Semper Fi Fund and Catholic Charities both agreed to have personnel available to discuss different avenues of emergency financial resources for veterans. The Veterans Achieving Stability through Training project, better known as VAST NJ, agreed to have 1-2 representatives available to counsel veterans with job assistance programs. Alongside, VA Vet Center agent Guy Vanterpool, will be providing information about free counseling and VA case work management for veterans. Lastly, medically trained, and licensed staff including Registered Nurses will be available to visit Veterans to perform simple vital signs and assessments per request.
The H4H program has implemented a two-phase strategy to continue their work, phase one is conducting statewide collections and phase two is dispensing the donations to veterans all over New Jersey. Both phases have included extensive promotional campaigns via social media and word of mouth from universities and veteran organizations alike. The adapted method has proven to be successful during these unprecedented times; the NJVN Outreach Director, Frank “Doc” Schupp who created the Helping Heroes program said, “The world has changed, and we are doing our best to change with it to continue to make an impact in the community.”
NJ Veterans in need, hopeful volunteers, or those who wish to drop off donations at locations listed below are encouraged to contact Doc Schupp at DocSchupp@gmail.com.
Drop off points:
VFW
2021 High Street
Union, NJ 07083
Kean University Department of Veteran Services
Located at the Center of Academic Success (CAS), Room 208
1000 Morris Avenue
Union, NJ 07083
Belleville Public Library
221 Washington Avenue
Belleville, NJ 07109
About New Jersey Veterans Network
We are a group of veterans and volunteers dedicated to helping our veterans and their families live better lives. Our team is raising awareness of our veterans needs by organizing public speaking engagements, meeting with business and political leaders across the state and sponsoring fundraising events. Our mission is to identify veterans and connect them with resources and programs designed to meet their unique set of needs. To ensure that EVERY single one of our veterans, who have sacrificed so much for this great country, receives the resources that they require and deserve. If you are interested in joining our team, would like us to speak at your event, or contributing to our mission, call 973-332-1556 or email mdbollio@optonline.net. To learn more visit njvn.org.
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