By Brooke Curley
brooke@gilavalleycentral.net
SAFFORD – They laid it all on the line for us, and now we as a community have an opportunity to give a helping hand.
To honor those who have served us so well and the sacrifices they have made, the Gila Valley will take part in a program designed to gather the military community together to understand how to better assist local service members, veterans, and military families in the community.
The Military/Veteran Community Network is scheduled to hold an event July 28 at the General Services Building in Safford from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is to organize and provide community resources to military families, and veterans.
Rosa Contreras, Graham County Substance Abuse Coalition project coordinator and leader of its Military Prevention Subcommittee, told Gila Valley Central that after the event her organization hopes to have a better grasp of the military family’s needs in the community and hopefully meet those needs.
“Through this event, we hope to be better equipped to connect military families with the right resources and map the resources and organizations in our area to better serve them,” Contreras said.
Contreras said she feels that there is a lack of resources and organizations in the area to help military families in rural communities. In order to help combat the shortfall, Contreras’ organization will feature the information highlighting the local resources to assist in drawing the community together.
“The Graham County Substance Abuse Coalition has been very fortunate in partnering with The Arizona Coalition for Military Families and we are very excited to be able to coordinate this event in strengthening support for our military community in Southeastern Arizona,” Contreras said.
This is the first time that the Military Prevention Subcommittee will be able to coordinate the community network event with the Arizona Coalition For Military Families. In the past, the subcommittee has coordinated with them in providing resource navigation training to connect service members with resources but nothing on a larger scale.
This event is open to all community members but especially military service members, veterans, and military families. Contreras also invites representatives of military entities, as well as Tribal Nations, and federal and state agencies. All types of health care and service providers are invited to participate as well as business and employer entities.
For more information visit: http://arizonacoalition.org/event/southern-arizona-community-network-event-safford/
The event will take place July 28 at the General Services Building in Safford from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
