It began with a news brief. One short article from an online newsletter about Paws and Stripes, an organization that trains service dogs to give to returning military veterans, caught Elon University’s senior Clara Martin’s eye last year. She has dedicated herself to working with veterans since. Martin, an exercise science major, founded Elon’s new organization Team Hero in 2011 to help raise awareness about the lives of veterans and soldiers and raise money for a guide dog for a veteran through Paws and Stripes.
In April of 2011, Martin held a softball tournament to raise the $2,000 needed to allow a veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to have a dog trained through the Paws and Stripes program to help him or her cope with PTSD. This year, she and Team Hero are expanding their focus during the month of April and are hosting several events, as they plan to continue to work toward sponsoring a veteran through Paws & Stripes.
“Team Hero is important because…the veterans that are returning from Iraq are young and they could be our peers, our brothers, sisters, best friends,” Martin said. “It’s our responsibility to help them return to American society as comfortably as possible and let them know that we have their backs and that we support them so they don’t feel alone and misunderstood.”
Phil Miller, faculty adviser and human services lecturer, said he’s supportive of Team Hero’s mission to raise awareness of veterans’ experiences. Miller has worked with returning soldiers as a social worker in the Air Force and is familiar with veterans’ difficulties.
“I think PTSD a great thing to increase awareness and sensitivity to,” Miller said. “These people exist; they’re here and they’re around you. They don’t wear signs saying ‘I’m a combat veteran and I have PTSD,’ so it’s important to be sensitive to what the needs are and what the issues are related to these veterans.”
[box]Upcoming Team Hero events: Softball tournament April 28 on the Francis Center fields College Coffee April 17 Lecture from Jim and Lindsey Stanek, the founders of Paws and Stripes, April 26 at 7 p.m. in Lindner 208. [/box]
Team Hero has not been granted formal organization status on Elon’s campus and, as a result, is currently sponsored by the Human Services Society. This has not stopped the group from gaining new members like Kathleen McCarthy, a freshman business administration major, who plans to help lead the organization next year after Martin graduates. McCarthy, who led a similar club supporting veterans in high school, said she is happy to be part of the organization and believes Team Hero has a similar mission to that of her high school’s.
“My biggest thing that I pushed in my high school veterans’ club was, even if you don’t support the reasons for a war or who sent troops there, people from our country are still over there,” McCarthy said, “and while they might not even agree with why they’re there, they’re still there and they deserve everyone’s support.”
Team Hero, according to Miller, has been determined to give them support every step of the way by sending letters and care packages to those in active duty overseas. He said he encourages students who wish to participate to contact him or Martin.
“I think it’s good for students to learn about it,” Martin said. “PTSD can happen to anybody, but especially with all the veterans coming back, it’s a big problem. It’s the reality. It almost seems like you can’t come back from combat without some sort of mental change; it changes you.”