Community Corner

Military Families Get Connected Thanks to Local Foundations

Phoenixville Community Health Foundation teamed with the John Lazarich Foundation to create www.militaryfamilyinfo.org.

has a hand in helping many area non-profits and people from all walks of life. One key group, however, was missing.

In the 13 year history of PCHF, the Foundation tried to reach out to just about everybody, according to Dr. Lou Beccaria, who serves as president and CEO.

“One of the groups that we had not actively done that with was veterans and active military people,” Beccaria told a group gathered for a presentation Friday morning at the Foundation's offices in Phoenixville.

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A quick look at the target group showed that there was not a lack of services out there for military families. According to Lynn Pike Hartman, vice president of programs with PCHF, the difficulty seemed to be in sorting through them and putting the information all in one place.

Recognizing that they weren’t the experts on military families, PCHF formed an advisory committee composed of veterans and representatives of the veterans affairs departments of Montgomery and Chester counties.

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“We have been working at this a long time,” Pike Hartman said.

Meetings, which got lively at times thanks to committee members poking fun at the different branches of service, were held over the last year and a half. Out of those meetings came www.militaryfamilyinfo.org, a website that aims to give military families a one-stop shop for the services that are available to them.

On the site, the Foundation was able to work to get links up to the National Resource Directory, which aligns perfectly with the PCHF goal as it aims to connect military families with services on the national level. The Help Book, a local services guide put together thanks to a PCHF grant, served as the backbone of the local portion of the site. Phoenixville area military families can search for services dealing with health, education, housing and employment.

The site has the ability to grow beyond the Phoenixville area, as well. Scott Hamrick of Visible Mission helped design the site, and he said any service organization across the country wishing to be listed can simply fill out an online form. Those submissions will be vetted to ensure they’re valid and useful.

Beccaria said the scalability attracted the Foundation to the project as funders. PCHF, along with the John Lazarich Foundation, funded the website, which Beccaria said cost under $10,000.

State Rep. Warren Kampf (R-157) was at the presentation and said he was very impressed with the site. He recently had a local man stop in his office to inquire about starting an American Legion branch in another part of the county.

“I can’t wait to show him this site,” Kampf said.

Barry Amole served on the advisory committee and said he was a little nervous about older veterans using the technology, but said he hopes a phone number will be listed front and center for those vets who are less Internet savvy.

The overall mission of the site, Amole explained, is very important.

“There is help out there and we can get it to them if the let us know before it’s too late,” Amole said.

Chester County Commissioner Vice Chairwoman Kathi Cozzone commended the work of the committee and funders of www.militaryfamilyinfo.org.

“It’s really phenomenal and I can see the opportunities for growth and leverage that you talked about,” Cozzone said.

Fellow County Commissioner Ryan Costello agreed that the site will help fill a gap in the military family community. He said he’d happily promote it on the county level to let people know about the site.

The site is free to use and hopefully will grow beyond the Phoenixville community, Hamrick said.

“It is purely an altruistic resource for the community,” he explained.

Several people commented that the Foundation did the right thing by not trying to take on too much and form another organization aimed at helping veterans and military families. Instead, PCHF and the John Lazarich Foundation recognized that the need wasn’t for more services, but for a way to connect people to the ones that already exist.

Paul Andriole, director of the Chester County Department of Veterans Affairs, thanked PCHF and said he was very appreciative of the work that went into the project.

“None of us veterans know what we are entitled to and the benefits that are out there,” Andriole said.

To see the end result of the project, visit www.militaryfamilyinfo.org.


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