How Can You Help Military Service Personnel & Veterans?; Operation Military Kids; Hire A Vet; RIP Detective Michael Morgan; H.O.I.S.T. Helping Officer Involved Shooting Trauma

"In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave and hated and scorned. When the cause succeeds, the timid join him, and then it costs nothing to be a patriot."---Mark Twain

Helping Our Service Personnel and Veterans

There are countless ways anyone can help military service personnel and veterans. This week's Parade Magazine offered a number of great examples. They include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

• Homes for our Troops constructs houses for severely injured veterans who served after 9/11. They can be reached at http://www.homesforourtroops.org/
• Offer a disabled veteran a ride to a VA medical facility.
• Don't throw your old cell phone away. Instead donate your old cell phone to Cell Phones for Soldiers at http://cellphonesforsoldiers.com/
• Same goes for used DVD's. Mail them to DVDs4Vets at http://www.dvds4vets.org/
• Send service personnel a care package. Items can include coffee, candy, power bars, peanuts, beef jerky, toiletries, disposable cameras, insect repellent and much more. Contact http://soldierpackages.org/
• Support your local veteran organizations such as The American Legion, VFW, Rolling Thunder and many, many more.

Operation Military Kids

Operation Military Kids is an outreach program whose mission it is to support deployed National Guard, Army Reserve and Active Duty Soldier's children living in your community. In association with 4-H Clubs, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The American Legion and other organization, networks of people and organizations support military children and youth where the live. They help provide a wide range of social, educational and recreational services. Just as important, they support military children coping with the stress of their deployed parents. You can get more information by contacting http://www.operationmilitarykids.org/.



Hiring For Heroes

As reported in this blog earlier, unemployment among military veterans is higher than among civilians. The general unemployment rate is now 9%. Among veterans it's almost 12%. The Chamber of Commerce published a calendar of hiring fairs throughout the country specifically targeting veterans. You can access the dates and places of these fairs through April 2012 at their web site  http://www.uschamber.com/ keyword "hiring for heroes."

Note: Currently there is a bill in Congress that aims a boosting veteran hiring. A vote on this legislation is due to occur this week.

Officer Down

Officer Down Memorial Page reported the death of Newark, NJ, Police Detective Michael Morgan. Detective Morgan was shot and killed while attempting to take action during a robbery while he was off-duty in Paterson, NJ. Detective Morgan served with the Newark Police Department for almost 7 years.

H.O.I.S.T.

Helping Officer Involved Shooting Trauma  (H.O.I.S.T.) is an organization founded to help officers and their families cope with the stress of an officer involved shooting. H.O.I.S.T. can be accessed on Facebook.