Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 11/21/2017
CHICOPEE – The new director of Veterans’ Services for the city appealed to members of the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce to collaborate with her department to assist the city’s vets.
Stephanie Shaw, who was appointed to the position four months ago, spoke at the Salute Breakfast on Nov. 15. She is a Massachusetts Army National Guard veteran who served in Afghanistan, who is also married to a veteran.
Shaw said the city has identified approximately 3,500 vets – 200 from World War II, 400 from the Korean War with the remainder being Vietnam vets. Her department has reached out to every vet it has on its mailing list to tell them about the services about which they may not know.
“The direction for the department is growth,” she said.
She is looking for new ways to partner with businesses and community organizations to create opportunities to helps vets. This summer, she noted, she met 40 new veterans during the Downtown Getdown event.
“That made the day memorable for me,” she said.
One of her goals is to “rebuild camaraderie.” She is doing so by reaching out to homeless veterans through the Homeless Network of Hampden County and by working with women inmates at the county’s women’s jail. Her department is also sponsoring home-buying seminars for vets.
These programs are designed to provide “low stress positive engagement,” she explained.
Her office is also preparing to support veterans during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
“Holidays can be hard for veterans,” she added.
Next summer, Shaw is planning to sponsor a program for the city’s first National Purple Heart Day recognition.
Speaking of collaboration, Shaw said, “I can’t do it alone, I don’t want to do it alone.”
Continuing the military theme for Veterans’ Day, the chief greeter for the breakfast was Senior Master Sergeant Andrew Biscoe, the acting chief public affairs officer for Westover Air Reserve Base.
Biscoe noted that with the return of some of base’s C-5 airplanes there have been fewer complaints about noise. The modified planes, now C-5Ms, make far less engine noise.
“People would call the office a lot on Tuesday and Thursday [when pilots were practicing takeoffs and landings]. They could be quite vocal,” Biscoe said.
He announced the next Great New England Air and Space Show – the new name for the event – would be July 14 and 15, 2019.
He said past surveys have shown the air show has a $13 million to $15 million economic impact on the region.
Biscoe also reported the base had a $212 million economic impact for the fiscal year 2017. Westover is one of only six Air Reserve bases in the nation and he added, “That’s lot of cash for a reserve base.”