Military Support

LVMAC Tidbit: Op Homefront Changes Lives

One of the more worthwhile national, military support organizations to have arrived on the scene since the second Gulf War is Operation Homefront.  It focuses on those still serving and also those just discharging.  While it cannot replace the value of certain, long-established, chartered veterans service organizations and their grassroots support activities (one would be ignorant to think so), it is definitely a value-for-the money organization which attempts to address some of the more pressing concerns of military families in often imaginative ways. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC News: Businesses! We Need Your Help and Thinking

The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, working with the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council and others, intends to create a formal Veterans and Military Affairs Council.  More immediately, it is in the process of making a baseline assessment of those chamber of commerce initiatives most needed.   It realizes it must get beyond anecdotal experiences to have informed efforts.  Therefore, as part of the assessment, it must conduct a short survey to uncover what problems — if any — local employers are facing in finding, hiring and retaining veterans as employees. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC Tidbit: Local Red Cross Seeks Special Volunteer to Serve Our Military Servicemembers and Their Families

American Red Cross SAF PinOne of our member organizations, the Lehigh Valley-Bucks Chapter of the American Red Cross, wants to re-establish its Services to the Armed Forces (SAF) program in Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks counties.  As a first step, a special kind of volunteer, working with the regional project manager for the program, must be found.

What is the Red Cross’ SAF program in the first place?  It is a longstanding program which supports our service members in the military by connecting them with their families during emergencies, providing them resilience training to deal with the challenges of deployment, and linking their families with local community resources.  (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC Tidbit: August 16 Webinar to Empower Military Parents

[Editor’s Note: This is what is what used to be called a “late wire” before the days of high technology, but here it goes …  hoping this reaches you, if it applies, in time.]

Growing up as a military child has both its advantages and difficulties; and the military services have always depended upon stable families to help ensure unit readiness. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Department of Defense’s Office of Military Community and Family Policy has partnered with Penn State University’s Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness to implement what is called the THRIVE Initiative in yet another effort to empower military parents as they nurture their children. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC News: “Warmth for Warriors” — An Example of How the Lehigh Valley Can Care

Occasionally, a local business comes to us in hopes of reaching out to our military-veterans community with a benevolent idea of worth not tied to the need to improve their business — in other words, playing their part in supporting those who often selflessly defend us with an act of selfless community-service of their own.  Jack Lehr, Inc. is one of these.  Its particular focus is on helping those Lehigh Valley families where a spouse has orders for deployment with a year’s worth of  heating maintenance services at no charge.  The problems and impositions of call-up on the families of reservists are little discussed topics.  Jack Lehr “gets it.” (more…)

By LVMAC, ago