National Service Year Supports Military through Nonprofit Partnership: Warrior Gateway Team Grows through AmeriCorps VISTA Program
(PRWEB) July 22, 2013 -- Today, Allison Hesketh, a native of New Hampshire, begins a year of national service through the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) Call to Service Corps AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program in support of veterans, servicemembers and their families. A partnership between Warrior Gateway, the American Legion Auxiliary and Volunteers of America with generous support from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) demonstrates the power of collaboration between nonprofits to propel community impact. The partnership affords Warrior Gateway the opportunity to bring a bright young leader to the team and continue to grow the mission of the organization, to connect servicemembers, veterans and military families with the support provided by government and non-profit resources in their local community. Hesketh will be tasked with cementing the organizations key initiative, the G.I. Network, as the go-to platform for any nonprofit or government office interested in providing access to a military support resource directory on their website.
In addition to the key role the AmeriCorps VISTA will play in strengthening Warrior Gateway’s efforts, she also creates a unique opportunity for the military focused nonprofit to directly connect civilian community service to the military community as the conversation of “service” for all Americans has reached national attention. As a virtual team, Warrior Gateway employees strive to build a strong online community to support veterans and their families. The AmeriCorps VISTA will serve as a tether to the boots on the ground community fostered by Volunteers of America offices across the country.
“Today there are so many opportunities to serve, in the military and in the civilian sectors. We are proud to be working with our partners through the AmeriCorps VISTA program and excited to have Allison join our team,” said Devin B Holmes, CEO of Warrior Gateway. “Ensuring support exists for our veterans and military families in the years to come is everyone’s responsibility and Allison’s commitment to the AmeriCorps VISTA program and Warrior Gateway is a prime example of how everyday citizens are taking up this challenge.”
Service to local and national communities is an inherent part of Warrior Gateway’s culture and those who use its resources. While the military community is the organizations primary focus, they have recognized the importance of linking civilians with veterans and their families that can provide invaluable insight and support through different transitions. Bringing an AmeriCorps VISTA to Warrior Gateway is a notable step in bridging the gap between these two communities.
About Warrior Gateway™: Founded in 2009, Warrior Gateway connects individuals in the military community with locally and nationally-based support organizations and programs, both non-profit and government. Warrior Gateway harnesses state-of-the art technology and community collaboration to help today’s veterans make better decisions about what service providers they can go to for help, and have a public forum to share their experiences about the quality and effectiveness of those services. In 2011, Warrior Gateway’s efforts were recognized with the Federal Computer Week Fed-100 award for significant contributions to the Federal IT community and in 2012, with a ComputerWorld Honors Laureate for our innovation in creating an open-source platform for information sharing. A proud partner of the Got Your 6 campaign, Warrior Gateway works to bridge the civilian-military divide with non-profit and government partners. For more information, please visit: http://www.warriorgateway.org
About G.I. Network: Warrior Gateway’s key initiative, the G.I. Network is the largest veteran resource information exchange, resource database search engine and referral network for the military community. It contains over 200,000 non-profit and government programs located in all 50 states. It is our goal that this shared information exchange will run on numerous military community focused sites in order to provide veterans and military family members consistent results regardless of where they go to search for help. The G.I. Network provides the search engine platform to http://www.warriorgateway.org.
Kelly Finn Störmer, Warrior Gateway, http://www.warriorgateway.org, 202-695-3668, [email protected]
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