By Woody Powell,Vet Court Mentor Coordinator and VFP Member of Chapter 61, St. Louis, MO
Veterans Court mentoring in St. Louis has moved to a new level with the introduction of a computer clinic designed to assist veterans and other victims of a shattered economy to prepare themselves for employment in an increasingly sophisticated work environment.
Veterans helping veterans is a key factor in the Vet Court program which keeps veterans, many of whom suffer from PTSD, out of prison through a program of personal recovery. A key element of the Vet Court process is mentoring by other veterans themselves in recovery.
Veterans For Peace is an organization made up mostly of combat veterans who have concluded that war was not the answer after all and bend their efforts toward healing the wounds of war and making peace.
Co-sponsoring the enterprise with Veterans For Peace and the St. Louis Veterans Court under Commissioner James E. Sullivan is the Employment Connection. It is a non profit of 25 years standing providing employment services of many kinds to people released from the prison system, veterans, and others needing help. It has gifted the clinic with large area in their facility along with internet access and a phone.
Initial donations by the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Applied Logic, Inc., a St. Louis-based medical inventory software provider, have given us a foundation of thirteen working computers, desktop and laptop. A treasure trove of discarded older computers, monitors and printers in the Employment Connection basement is providing parts sources for expanding capabilities and making repairs.
At present, classes in basic computer skills, conducted by Vet Court volunteer Kennedy Davis, are being set up for mornings and afternoons, Monday thru Thursday. They will be augmented by a volunteer instructor from the Harris Stowe college near by who will cover several aspects of job-hunting and career-building. There will be opportunity to work on computers themselves as well as learn the various programs necessary for doing business.
We owe our success, to-date, to those generous folks who have donated equipment and VFP members already active in the community of veterans helping veterans; such as Bill Griffith, ret., Bob Crecelius, City of St. Louis, Doug Parker, ret., Ivan Martin, ret., Lowry Finley-Jackson, County of St. Louis and the Vet Court volunteer mentors.
For more information call the Employment Connection at: 314-333-5627 or contact Kennedy Davis at 314-337-5999