Regional Group Aims To Connect Veterans, Build Community
When Edward Kovary returned from his trip to Florida in May, he was on a mission.
A mostly retired Navy veteran who spent a large chunk of his military career working with and on airplanes, Mr. Kovary had found something special in Florida that he felt was severely lacking back home in Massachusetts—community support for veterans. In working with a Florida-based nonprofit called the Freedom Waters Foundation, he was able to see up close the kind of experiences and camaraderie-building activities available to veterans there, which included fly-fishing courses and trips as well as boat cruises and other excursions.
“I’ll tell you, the smiles you see on their faces is gratifying,” Mr. Kovary said. “It really is very impressive. That foundation has done a tremendous amount.”
That is why, as soon as he got back to his home in Mashpee, Mr. Kovary started reaching out to local organizations that provide services to veterans, including various local Veterans Administration clinics, to see what was out there. He found a couple of groups with some activity, but nothing quite like what he had in mind. So, he decided to stick to his vision and start a group of his own, based on what he saw in Florida and what he knew the veterans in Massachusetts needed.
“I’m looking for a more active type of situation where they get out of the house and get together with others and do things together,” Mr. Kovary said. “When we put [the veterans] into the community around other people, they get to make friends, they get to feel comfortable, and it’s a faster return to the civilian life that they left.”
Mr. Kovary was put in touch with the Community Team at Veterans United, a VA mortgage lending company, and explained his vision: to help veterans reacclimate to civilian life and foster a sense of community. Then, the Veterans United Community Group of Upper Cape Cod and Plymouth was born.
Ry Colman, a member of Veterans United community team, said that while mortgages are what Veterans United does as a business, its mission is to enhance the lives of veterans in all aspects.
“After years of working with veterans, we heard time and time again that one of the best ways we could accomplish that mission is to provide opportunities for camaraderie and continued service within the veteran/military community,” Mr. Colman said. “So we created our team to answer that call.”
The Upper Cape Cod and Plymouth group, which meets every other week on Tuesday evenings, is one of dozens started in partnership with Veterans United in communities across the country. Mr. Kovary said Veterans United has been incredibly supportive of what he is looking to accomplish and designated him as a Veterans United Advocate.
Ideally, Mr. Kovary said, the Upper Cape Cod and Plymouth group will assist military persons who have received an honorable discharge in transitioning back to civilian life through various avenues of camaraderie, community and teamwork while also working with the community to create beneficial relationships.
“Many [veterans] want to offer assistance and help the families that were left behind, to assist in whatever they may need,” Mr. Kovary said. “Others are looking to get back into what they used to do. Some used to fish; some were craftsmen. What we’d like to do is get as many veterans to come to our meetings, form groups of like disciplines and go forth and try to help the community and, in essence, ask the community to extend themselves to help the veterans. The veterans greatly appreciate the thank-you for serving, but in reality we need to do more.”
Making It Work
The group held its kickoff meeting at the Bourne Veterans Memorial Community Center on September 20, which Mr. Kovary said produced a reasonable turnout of a diverse group of veterans. The meeting served mainly to inform the attendees of the group’s mission, Mr. Kovary said, and begin the process of focusing on the veterans themselves and meeting their wants and needs. The second meeting on October 4 saw a few additional members, and it is Mr. Kovary’s hope that the group will continue to attract more veterans.
“What we try to do at these meetings is try and draw out some of the vets who have totally withdrawn themselves mentally from civilian life and help transition them” Mr. Kovary said. “Our growth [as an organization] is totally dependent on more participants. Once we get the participants, then we can find out what they’re interested in, form groups and go out and help them achieve what they want.”
According to the VA’s 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, the average number of veteran suicides per day was 16.8 in 2020. To Mr. Kovary, many of these deaths can be attributed to ongoing difficulties faced by veterans whose needs often go unmet.
“Some of it is because of the fact that they don’t hear about what’s available to them and they’re apprehensive,” he said. “When you’re in a war zone, you’re living day to day, moment to moment. When they come out of there, it’s not easy to make that change. What we want to do is offer these veterans as much help as possible and try and promote things so that we can get them more acclimated to civilian life.”
Reacclimation to civilian life can take many different forms, Mr. Kovary said. It might include group outings to explore the Cape and surrounding towns or trips to the theater and museums. Maybe it is fishing or boating—Mr. Kovary said that many veterans find the water to be serene—or pursuing a craft. Another major facet of reacclimation is to foster more intimate connections and a sense of camaraderie through mentorship and small “team” meetings.
Once the group is fully established and running, Mr. Kovary envisions making these things happen for the veterans, but the biggest roadblocks are funding and community involvement.
“I know by fact I can’t do this all alone,” he said. “I have a lot of ideas, and I need assistance and help from the community as well as the veterans themselves. These are things where the community could come in and help support either through donations or just by making things available to [the veterans].”
Mr. Kovary is in the process of connecting with other local groups championing similar causes in hopes that they may be able to work together in the future and do some sharing of members and programming.
“They might be doing an activity that we have a group interested in doing, and maybe they have something they would like to do with us,” he said. “Working as a team, that’s really what military people do. As a team, we’re unified. That’s our ultimate goal, and that’s my objective that I came back up north to put together and make work.”
Job assistance, mentorship, socialization and housing assistance are just some of the key focuses that Mr. Kovary wants to hone in on with his group. Both his continued work with Veterans United and his time in Florida have helped inform his vision for the new Upper Cape Cod and Plymouth group. He continues to look to other successful veterans organizations, like the ones he found in Florida, to guide his mission at home.
“It gave [the veterans] a sense of belonging to the community, and that’s so important,” Mr. Kovary said of other programs’ success. “That’s what we need to achieve, and we need to help those that need mentoring. That’s the overall of what we’re trying to do as a group.”
Getting Involved
There are plenty of ways for the community to help, Mr. Kovary said. Whether it is a job opportunity for a veteran, a donation, use of a boat for a fishing trip, available space for crafting or other activities—any and all help is welcomed.
“There’s really no limitation,” he said. “It’s just that we need help and we need to do it together as a team, both the community and the military heroes that have come back to us.”
Mr. Kovary envisions a mutually beneficial relationship between the Upper Cape Cod and Plymouth veterans group and the surrounding communities. As the group continues to attract more members and build community connections, Mr. Kovary said the next step is to publish a list of community aid available to veterans. He would also like to connect with employers to help veterans find jobs, as the skills they learned in the service are applicable and adaptable to various fields of work.
“We need the help because, unfortunately, housing costs and the cost of living have gotten sky high,” he said. “We have a lot of talent available; all we need is basically the means of finding the companies that can use resources and are willing to train them in the slight modification they would need. They’re more than willing to go out; they need a career. They did their military career voluntarily while we enjoyed freedom. That’s why I say it’s time for the community to help out.”
He also hopes to host social events for veterans and their families in the future, specifically a barbecue in the spring.
The group is open to veterans and their family members, provided the veteran can supply a DD214, or Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty.
Community members who are interested in getting involved should contact Mr. Kovary at vetsofcapecodnplym@comcast.net. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 18, at 6:30 PM at the Bourne Veterans Memorial Community Center. Meetings are every other week.