EASTHAMPTON — As a veteran, Lin Chambliss knows firsthand the isolation and disconnect that comes with returning from the service.

He himself missed part of his kids’ childhood, “time I can’t get back,” he said.

“Many veterans, they feel forgotten… They sacrifice and serve the country, but they don’t think that anyone cares, so then they isolate,” said Chambliss, who is the resident manager at Viking’s Landing, a community veterans home in Easthampton.

That isolation is what a new veteran health and wellness initiative seeks to address at a monthly luncheon held at the Easthampton Congregational Church on the first Wednesday of every month.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the Easthampton Coalition for Veteran Wellness — a collaboration between city officials and veterans organizations — which has partnered with the Building Bridges Veterans Initiative that hosts similar lunches across New England.

At the first lunch last Wednesday, a group of over 30 veterans from Easthampton, Northampton and surrounding communities gathered for a warm meatloaf and mashed potato meal.

“There’s nothing like food to bring people together,” said the Rev. Christopher Carlisle, executive director and founder of Building Bridges. “One of the things I always say is that the critical thing is not numbers, it’s electricity in the room, and there was lots of static today.”

The lunch is twofold in its mission to build camaraderie among local veterans and to connect veterans with valuable community resources.

“There’s an emerging understanding about moral injury, which is the burden that many veterans, particularly combat veterans, carry home when they come to terms with what they had to do as soldiers,” said Carlisle. “The research is showing that really the most effective way of addressing moral injury is veteran-to-veteran.”

According to a 2021 study by the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, over half of American veterans reported feeling lonely sometimes or often, which is also associated with a range of mental and physical health impacts.

“We had such a strong community when we were in the military,” said John Paradis, an active member of the local veteran community. “You’re part of that brotherhood, sisterhood where everyone watches out for you… And then we come back into our hometowns, and it’s like we’re missing that.”

“So you come to places like this and you’re like, ‘this is what I had and what I want,’” Paradis said. “You do that just by having a meal.”

Building community is a top goal for the new Easthampton Coalition for Veteran Wellness, according to Thea Faust, the coalition’s service prevention community engagement and partnership coordinator.

Partnerships key

The coalition is a collaboration between city departments including police, fire, health and veterans’ services; local businesses owners; veteran-owned nonprofits; community members; and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

As part of the VA’s Public Health Model for Suicide Prevention, the coalition formed earlier this year to support Easthampton veterans’ health and wellness by hosting community events and providing resources, training and education.

In setting out to build community and highlight resources, the coalition partnered with Building Bridges, which has served upward of 90,000 free meals to veterans throughout New England.

“This is suicide prevention from a public health perspective,” said Faust. “We’re trying to get upstream, and of course if we come across anybody that has any struggles, we have the full network of the VA to tap into here.”

Paradis added, “The thing about today is, we didn’t say anything about suicide. We didn’t talk about suicide prevention. But by coming together and talking, we’re building relationships, and that’s what prevents it.”

Building Bridges was established in Northampton in 2015, and has since expanded to encompass 15 meal sites in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island that feed a total of around 1,500 veterans every month.

“Many civilians don’t know, beyond thanking veterans for their service, they’re not sure how they can show their appreciation,” said Carlisle. “I think that’s one of the things that’s worked for Building Bridges, is it’s a sign that the larger non-veteran population cares about the sacrifices they made and the struggles they therefore have to experience post-combat.”

“There’s a way for veterans to find their home back in the community that they left,” he said.

In addition to fostering community among veterans, Building Bridges and the Coalition’s lunches are also an opportunity to connect veterans with important resources.

“It’s just remarkable how many resources go unnoticed,” Carlisle said.

“The veteran population is suffering, and that suffering is unnecessary just because [they] don’t know that there’s help right here,” said Chambliss.

At Wednesday’s meal, the group took a moment to honor Edward Hanlon and Illona Murray, two “stalwarts” of the veteran community, as Paradis put it, who died in a pedestrian accident last year.

The Police Department also presented a $600 donation to pay for the first two meals. Faust said that anyone who is interested in sponsoring a meal or becoming a volunteer — cooks are particularly needed — can email veteranwellness.easthampton@gmail.com.

“A meal, camaraderie and services — connected, those three things right there can change your life,” said Chambliss. “Just three simple things can change your life.”

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.