Speakers at benefit dinner implore crowd to personally help wounded veterans

Posted on Sat, Jan 29, 2011 : 5:04 p.m.

Speakers at benefit dinner implore crowd to personally help wounded veterans

By Danny Shaw

Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney, deputy director for strategic operational planning at the National Counterterrorism Center, took to the podium as the benefit's keynote speaker.

Danny Shaw | Intern

Veterans need more than donations and words of sympathy — they need personal help from their communities in order to reintegrate into society.

That was the message at a benefit dinner Friday for Team Red, White & Blue, an organization that helps local veterans sort through the many difficulties they face after serving in combat, such as social isolation, marital and family problems, substance abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Held at the Michigan Union, the event was hosted by the Student Veterans of America - University of Michigan and sponsored by Ford Motor Company. The event brought out 200 attendees, nearly 100 of whom were veterans and 17 currently wounded. More than 40 of the veterans are current U of M students.

Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney, deputy director for strategic operational planning at the National Counterterrorism Center, gave the keynote speech. He focused on the importance of giving a helping hand to not only the veterans in the community, but their families as well.

Kearney, who has a son deploying this month on his third tour in Afghanistan, said he thinks veterans and their families need more than pages from checkbooks and words of sympathy from the community.

“We do this all the time with things we don’t understand,” Kearney said, motioning to himself and the audience. “We take it and put it in a corner and we go, ‘How can I help? Maybe I can donate a little bit of money here.’ But what people need is interaction.”

Army Capt. Mike Erwin, founder and director of Team RWB, said he couldn’t agree more with the general’s position, and it’s why he started the organization.

Army Capt. Mike Erwin, founder and director of Team Red, White & Blue.

Danny Shaw | Intern

“Our vision is really to create a paradigm shift in the way our country supports its wounded veterans,” Erwin said. “We’re trying to give people the option beyond just donating their money to organizations. We want to give people the option to personally get involved.”

The organization's largest event so far, said Erwin, was the back-to-back marathons they hosted in Detroit in October in honor of a local fallen soldier, 1st Lt. Joel Gentz, of Chelsea.

Erwin said Team RWB serves as a medium in which volunteers can help one-on-one with things most veteran-support organizations don’t deal with.

“It involves spending time with them like a friend would do, going out to coffee, taking them to a football game,” he said. “Maybe even watching his kids so he and his wife can go out to dinner. It’s really the small stuff we want people to do, to just reach out and be a friend.”

Since the organization was founded in Ann Arbor last April, Erwin said around 2,000 people have become active members, and he said they are always in search of more people to donate their time.

Team RWB's services are available to any veteran receiving care from the Ann Arbor Veteran Affairs hospital, which includes veterans from throughout Michigan, northern Ohio, and northern Indiana. They also have a presence in Houston, Texas, and Washington D.C. Erwin said his goal is to be nationwide within three years.

Kearney said he thinks Erwin’s organization and its volunteers are at the front lines of helping veterans get back to being whole and healthy.

“They really did identify the problem and went after it,” he said. “They help integrate veterans back into communities in a way I don’t think any other foundation like his has done.”

Kearney said he thinks it’s vital to understand what the men and women in the armed forces go through, to better help them when they return — or help their families if they don’t.

“Those are our kids, your brothers and sisters, those are your parents that are out there,” he said. “They want to know that if something happens, if something goes wrong, my military, my civilian community, my home, are going to wrap their arms around me, and my family and I are going to feel secure moving forward.”

According to Kearney, it's important to remember why our troops put their lives on the line, not only for their country, but also for their fellow servicemen and women.

“They don’t do this because they’re looking for the Medal of Honor, they do this because they love the people they're with,” he added. “I ask you to love them in your communities as much as they love each other, as much as their parents and families love them.”

For more information on Team RWB, visit the group's website.

Danny Shaw is an intern for AnnArbor.com. Reach the community team at community@annarbor.com.

Comments

Tom Bayer

Tue, Feb 1, 2011 : 1:02 a.m.

My PA and I were at this event Friday night at the Union, and I got the chance to personally thank a few of the people who put themselves in harm's way to protect US citizens I am grateful for the chance to have done that from the desk of … Tom Bayer Ann Arbor MI <a href="http://www.disabilityconcerns.us" rel='nofollow'>www.disabilityconcerns.us</a>