Veterans Community Access Point Opens at Edwards Church Campus

Editor’s Note: Originally posted at 9 p.m. on Aug. 20. Updated with video links.

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Veterans need to be able to have services come to them and that is goal of the new VA Vet Center Community Access Point at the Open Spirit Building on the ca,pus of Edwards Church in the Saxonville section of Framingham.

It was Major Jeff Cox, a Veteran and social worker with the Massachusetts National Guard, and a regular participant in Open Spirit programs who saw this space as the potential to host the veterans community access point said Edwards Church Rev. Debbie Clark.

“A founding member of the Framingham Veterans Council, Jeff brought Open Spirit together with the VA Vet Center in Worcester,” said Clark.

The Veterans Administration has a number of Vet Centers, which provide readjustment, community-based counseling services for combat veterans and military personnel affected by sexual trauma. Vet Centers then establish “Community Access Points” in area communities to make the services more accessible to veterans.

“We are so pleased to welcome this community access point to our campus,” said Clark. ” For decades on Memorial Day and Veterans Day Veterans from Framingham have come to this building for a coffee break as they have gone from cemetery to cemetery to honor those who have fallen. So it is fitting that this building should be a place of welcome for our veterans.“

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the grand opening.

The mobile Vet Center with a counselor began seeing clients in June, said Clark. On Tuesday, the grand opening of the center, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Katherine Clark, toured the center and participated in a round-table panel discussion on the needs of Veterans.

Sen. Warren said the new mobile center in Framingham “gives us a change to re-affirm our commitment to our Veterans.” She said she learned from her three brothers what it means to make a commitment to military service and she understand what that means to families too. Click here to listen to more of Sen. Warren’s remarks.

Congresswoman Clark said the new Framingham-based center will connect ”our Veterans with the health care that they need. So many times the wounds are not visible from the outside. The need for mental health services is a crisis among our veterans. And that is being addresses so well here in Framingham.”

Rep. Clark said the mobile center was a “great example of using technology and innovation to find and meet veterans where they are ensure their needs are being met.” Click here to watch a video of Rep. Clark speaking.

Rev. Clark said the “grand opening is the culmination of a long series of creative collaborations.”

The first goes back to 2010, when the Brookfield Institute and the United Church of Christ recognized the need for a community-wide commitment to be made to returning Veterans from the Middle East.

With a grant, the United Church of Christ and the the Brookfield Institute “created a program called Finding the Calm in the Storm,” said Rev. Clark. “They invited churches in Massachusetts to reach out to Veterans and families. Edwards Church responded as well as Plymouth Church in Framingham. Together with the Institute our two churches offered educational programs to our congregations and also to the Greater framingham.”

Three years ago, Edwards Church began offering yoga class for Veterans on Monday evenings. The classes are still held at 6:15 p.m.

And in 2011, Edwards Church created Open Spirit: A plan for Hope, Health and Harmony.

“The heart of our mission is connectiveness,” said Rev. Clark. And the new veterans Center now helps connects Veterans to the community even more.