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The Escanaba Vet Center will celebrate its 40th anniversary with an Open House at the Houghton Community Access Point.
The event will be held at their location at the Copper Country Mall on Thursday, June 13th from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Activities include an opening ceremony featuring the National Anthem by the Calumet JROTC Choir & Color Guard.
Opening remarks will be given by Readjustment Counselor Michelle Kovachich and Licensed Master Social Worker Sharon Anastas will speak on Veterans suicide awareness,
Vietnam service pins will also be presented.
The ceremony will be followed by a lunch honoring veterans, active duty service members and their family with hot dogs and live music.
A series of workshops and presentations takes place throughout the afternoon.
The Houghton Community Access Point serves the counties of Keweenaw, L’Anse, Baraga, and Ontonagon.
Some of the programs offered include alternatives to managing PTSD, coping skills for anxiety and depression by using mindfulness.
Additional programs include providing balance and a healthy expression of the warrior mindset which include honoring their experiences with storytelling and writing and giving Veterans an opportunity ride a horse or dig a garden.
06/13/2019 Houghton CAP Open House
Schedule of Events
1100-1200
National Anthem by Calumet JROTC Choir & Color Guard
Opening remarks by Michelle Kovachich, Readjustment Counselor
Presentation of Vietnam service pins
Veteran suicide awareness by Sharon Anastas, LMSW
- 1200-1300: Hotdog luncheon honoring Veterans, Active Duty & Military Families
Live music by Maddie Longpre-Harrer - 1300-1330: Veterans Horsemanship Program – Freedom Reins Horse Club & Combat Veteran Horseman with Joseph Tormala, FRHC-VHP Director
- 1400-1500: Acupuncture Basics and Q&A with Amy Bachhuber, R.Ac.
- 1500-1600: Gentle Stretching & Breathwork w/ Beth Ryynanen, Certified Yoga Instructor
- 1600-1700: Veterans Journey Writing Workshop w/ Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch Literary Community
- 1700-1730: Introduction to CrossFit with Jesse Rulison, CrossFit Hakkapeliitta
President Lincoln intended that the nation share the burden of war with the combat Veteran and his family. The Vet Center keeps this promise by providing quality readjustment services in a caring manner to those who bore the burden and to their families. Successful post-war adjustment includes the community where Veterans live.
Vet Centers exist because of the Vietnam Veterans who advocated for readjustment counseling. Congress established the Vet Centers in 1979 to meet their needs, to keep the promise, to welcome home the combat Veteran with honor and dignity. Forty years later, services extend to include previous and post-Vietnam conflicts, Active Duty Service Members, and the families of those deployed.
Combat Veterans miss the tribal mindset of military service. They miss the comradery, adrenaline, and being a part of something. Veterans come home only to feel isolated. Often their wounds are invisible – chronic pain, illness, moral injury, PTSD. The Vet Center seeks to add value to their lives, to invigorate the warrior mindset in healthy ways, and to connect the Veteran to family and community in meaningful ways.
The Houghton Community Access Point serves the Keweenaw, L’Anse, Baraga, and Ontonagon with one Readjustment Counseling Therapist, Michelle Kovachich. Some of the programs offered include alternatives to managing PTSD, coping skills for anxiety and depression by using mindfulness. Additional programs include providing balance and a healthy expression of the warrior mindset which include honoring their experiences with storytelling and writing and giving Veterans an opportunity ride a horse or dig a garden.
These men and women among us have experienced death. Help them experience life.
On June 13 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Vet Center will celebrate 40 years as a national organization with an Open House. The event will honor our local combat Veterans and showcase the programs intended to keep the promise.
The community is invited to learn about the Vet Center programs: Community Garden, Veterans Memorial at Douglas Houghton Falls, Suicide Awareness, Equine Therapy Acupuncture, Yoga, CrossFit and a Veterans Journey Writing Workshop. The Calumet JROTC will offer a “healthier” hot dog lunch and one of its members who is the granddaughter of a Vietnam Veteran will provide music.
Please join starting at 11 a.m. for opening remarks and ceremony followed by events at the top of each hour throughout the day.
