Post 109 in New Jersey held a women veteran’s resource event alongside student Haley Papeo as part of her music class project.
Seventeen-year-old high school student Haley Papeo wanted to do something for women veterans that combined her love for music, brought awareness to the unique challenges that women veterans face when transitioning to civilian life, and provided local resources to them. She reached out to American Legion Post 109 Commander Keith John Whiteside of Rutherford, N.J., whom she knows through his stepson, of the idea to have a women veteran’s event at the post.
At American Legion Post 109, “we’re trying to do more outreach. We don't want anybody to slip through the cracks ever. We want to do more and we're always looking for the opportunity to do more,” Whiteside said. “So when this young woman said she had an idea, we were 100 percent ‘Let's get out there and let's do it.’ And that’s what we did.”
The Oct. 5 event was held on Post 109’s expansive lawn that’s next to a high traffic park along the Passaic River. Local musicians volunteered their time and talent, restaurants provided food, women veteran or focused vendors provided resources, crafts and free classes to yoga, while lawn games such as horseshoes were played. The event was made possible by Papeo, along with local Scouts, community members and members of Post 109’s Sons of The American Legion and Auxiliary.
“It was a full family thing with the post and just the community coming together in support of female veterans and what we could do to get the word out and what we could do to get them as much support and as much awareness for the unique struggles that they have,” Whiteside said.
And Papeo is looking forward to hosting the event again next year, Whiteside said.
“People there were like, ‘What are we going to do next year? How are we going to make this better next year?’ It was just fantastic. Haley is such a great girl. She was doing this for music honors as a project, and she could have just gone and did some service for a few hours and gotten credit, but you know, not her. This was a passion of hers.”
As Papeo prepares for next year’s women veterans event, Whiteside said that Post 109 Legion Family will continue to support her efforts. A Navy veteran, Whiteside served two tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a patrol boat commander where he shared that he had the privilege to serve alongside women who were also patrol boat commanders.
“They were serving in combat alongside of us, and they were great sailors,” he said. “Our women have always proven themselves in combat and always will, and they're an unbelievable asset to our military. And they are wonderful veterans, and I'm so proud to call them colleagues, and I'm so proud to have served with them.”
The event not only raised awareness about women veterans, their service and available resources, it also raised $5,000 that will go toward The American Legion’s Be the One suicide prevention mission and Operation Sisterhood, a local nonprofit that specializes in women veterans transition to civilian life.
“I told Haley if you raise $1 it was worth it because you got so much awareness out there from people coming and wanting to help and donating their time to set everything up,” Whiteside said. “It was wonderful. It really was.”
Whiteside set up a Be the One table at the event as Post 109 is behind the mission to end veteran suicide and provide veterans with the help they need.
“Be the One is extremely important,” he said, and encourages people to take the free 90-minute Columbia Protocol suicide prevention training. “I really do put that out a lot about Be the One and how important it is to get that training because sometimes when someone's in crisis they don't go to a family member or somebody they know. It’s oftentimes they're going to go to somebody they don't know because of the stigma. And you know, you could be that person that they go to. And you should know that it might be your time to be that one for that person.”
Whiteside shared about a time he was waiting for a flight in the Newark airport when a woman asked if she could talk with him.
“She started to tell me about her brother, who had committed suicide, and she just wanted to open up to somebody who was completely nonjudgmental. She was so thankful that I was there to talk to and that's what it's all about, that's what Be the One is about. You need to understand that at any time somebody could need you to know what to do, or know what to say, or know where to direct them and that's why it's so important. It’s an important mission.”
- Women Veterans