BALTIMORE - Thanks to a program launched 10 years ago in Maryland, National Guard members and families are able to receive services ranging from household and auto repair to counseling and childcare.
Col. Sean Lee, Maryland National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters Chaplain, started the "Partners in Care" program to build supportive relationships between faith groups and National Guard Soldiers, Airmen and their families during times of crisis.
It now includes 99 congregations located across Maryland in all 23 counties and Baltimore City.
"During times of persistent conflict, Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen in the National Guard are experiencing significant levels of stress due to the combined responsibilities of military service, family obligations and civilian employment," Lee said.
Services include, but are not limited to, counseling for individuals, couples, marriages and families; childcare; children and youth support groups; basic household and auto repair; crisis and grief counseling and many other helpful services.
"The number of participating Partners in Care has grown each year since 2005 and so has the number of Soldiers, Airmen and Families we've helped," Lee said. "Each congregation provides support within the limits of its ability, free of charge, regardless of religious affiliation, and without further obligation."
Lee estimated the number of Soldiers, Airmen and families helped at nearly 1,150. He said he has noticed nearly the same demographic analysis of individuals referred in the program's 10-year history.
"I can tell you that in Maryland, 47 percent have never deployed, 87 percent are in the E-1 to E-5 ranks, and the leading cause for referrals, 49 percent, is the need for food assistance," said Lee.
With more than 34 years in the National Guard, Lee thoroughly understands the nature of the Guard and wanted to find a way to apply the Guard's organizational concept to the Partners in Care network.
The Maryland National Guard, a community-based organization, has 39 National Guard readiness centers located throughout the state, and Lee knew that this wide distribution allows service members to more efficiently serve their neighbors in times of emergency.
Many other states have also adopted the Maryland model to help service members.
About 28 state National Guards have some form of Partners in Care today, said retired Col. Norman Williams, senior religious affairs analyst for the National Guard Bureau's Joint Chaplain Office.
"In Maryland it was the faith community, in Minnesota it is entire communities [Beyond the Yellow Ribbon], in other states it is veteran's groups," said Williams. "Our emphasis is that these are state National Guard programs. These are the adjutant general's programs designed to care for the governor's National Guard."
Williams said the success behind these programs was learning where Guard families go for help when they are not at their armories or military bases.
"Partners in Care has been our core community-based program for sustaining the National Guard families in times of crisis," said Williams. "This is a program that has had tremendous impact on our Soldiers, Airmen and their families, and a program that continues to evolve from crisis support to crisis intervention."
"We are encouraging our state National Guard chaplains to let this program morph to fit their state and their Soldier and Airmen's needs," said Williams. "In the past three years we have partnered with the VA Chaplain Center's Rural Health Clergy Training. Through our JFHQ-Chaplains we are training community leaders in understanding the military culture, with crisis intervention skills, and referral sources equipping them with the intervention tools they need to support our service members and veterans in times of crisis.""This model works well for the National Guard and it works well for communities wanting to support Guard members," Lee said. "It really is neighbors helping neighbors."