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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- Community leaders, local business owners and veterans' advocates will join together on Saturday at the American Legion Post 274 in hopes of initiating a program designed to assist severely disabled veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American Legion program, called Heroes to Hometowns, helps local veterans and their families make the transition from wartime to hometown by getting the community involved. The program is popular around the country but hasn't taken root in New York much yet, according to Post 274 Chaplain John Donahue.
"It's a program to help get the community on board with the veterans and their different services," Donahue said. "It's for the badly wounded coming home to help accommodate them any way we can, to try and get all the agencies and people in town like the Lions Club and the Rotary, the schools, the churches - it's all been done in the past and that's what it's all about now."
According to the American Legion, an estimated 32,000-plus soldiers having sustained serious injuries since the inception of the war in Iraq. Last year, the Heroes to Hometowns program assisted over 1,100 veterans nationwide.
The program helps veterans in many ways, from building handicapped accessible ramps for a vet's home to providing housing assistance and financial planning help.
"Often the biggest problem is identifying who is in need," Donahue said. "The [federal] privacy and confidentiality laws make it very difficult."
Donahue said that cuts in federal veteran's programs make the program more relevant than ever.
"They government is cutting back on the amount they allow them (veterans) to travel for medical service, such as if they have to go back and forth to a hospital over at West Point," Donahue said. "So we would address funding where the shortfalls are."
The meeting will start at 1 p.m. and will focus on establishing a support network and coordinating community resources for those service members, ensuring a positive transition home. Political leaders from Peekskill, Cortlandt and other neighboring towns and from the state and federal levels are slated to attend, Donahue said.
The meeting will take place at 1 p.m. at the American Legion Peekskill Post, which is located at 936 McKinley St. in Peekskill. The event is invite-only. Contact Brendan Fitzgerald or Jerry O'Shaugnessy at (914) 482-8230 to reserve a seat.
For more information about Heroes to Hometowns, go to www.legion.org/heroes.
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