The North Central West Virginia Joining Community Forces, a coalition of agencies throughout the region working to “serve those who serve,” has already begun putting its 2016 plan of action into gear.

 

The JCF works to address the most urgent needs of West Virginia National Guard personnel and their families, especially during times of deployment, mobilization, or natural disasters. The JCF provided training and outreach to more than 150 new recruits and to military families last year.

 

The JCF provided financial education to these new recruits, many of whom are just over the age of 18, and the JCF also provided cooking and nutritional education to the families of National Guard troops. The agency will again work to provide those much-needed services to those serving.

 

The JCF, which began in north-central West Virginia in 2012, initiated the Brown Bags for Veterans program at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg. The Brown Bags program at the local VA provides food items to veterans traveling on the bus between the Clarksburg VA center and the Pittsburgh VA hospital. Often these veterans go to Pittsburgh for tests, and fasting is typically required. Because of the logistics of the travel and testing, there is often no time for the veteran to grab a meal after the testing. These brown bags are packed with items such as tuna salad, chicken salad, peanuts, granola bars, crackers and drinks so that the veterans can at least have something to eat before they return to Clarksburg. The food items are also used in the VA Hospice program so that families of veterans do not have to leave their loved ones during a critical time.

 

Those wishing to donate to the Brown Bags program can drop off items at the Harrison County/West Virginia University Extension Service, 1117 Good Hope Pike, Clarksburg, which is across from the Sunnycroft golf course on U.S. 19 South. The food items should be non-perishable and have an expiration date through 2016. Contact JCF chair and WVU Extension Agent Becky Smith at 304-624-8650 for further information.

 

The JCF committee consists of representatives from all military branches, state and local government, along with other community agencies in the state of West Virginia. Some of the agencies include the WVU Extension Service in Harrison County, the American Red Cross, the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, the Military Family Life Consultant Program, the West Virginia National Guard, Operation Military Child, U.S. Army FRSA 77th BDE, and the Family Resource Network.