FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Adrienne Rupp
Business and Industry Association
Office: 603.224.5388 x114
Mobile: 603.731.7754
arupp@nhbia.org
BIA will recognize nonprofit for innovative program helping military families at Nov. 4 annual dinner.
CONCORD, N.H. – Oct. 1, 2009 – Easter Seals New Hampshire will receive the 2009 New Hampshire Advantage Award at the Business and Industry Association’s 96th Annual Dinner to be held Nov. 4 at the Center of New Hampshire in Manchester. The organization will be honored for a unique program that assists veterans, service members and their families.
Launched in 2007 in partnership with the Department of Defense and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Easter Seals Veterans Count helps military families – primarily those serving in the New Hampshire National Guard and Reserve – that have fallen through the cracks. The program helps veterans and service members access Easter Seals’ resources to solve potential issues caused by the emotional and physical hardships of military service. Services may include facilitating
mental health counseling for veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, marriage counseling or working with school guidance counselors to support children of military families. The program provides financial assistance to military families for food, housing, heating fuel, transportation, household budgeting, medical care, and job training and placement.
To date, Veterans Count has helped more than 600 veterans and their families, and is currently managing more than 350 individual cases in the deployment cycle. In the coming year, New Hampshire’s largest number of soldiers, estimated at about 2,000, is slated to deploy.
Many of the problems military families face can be prevented or lessened with access to clinical and case management support prior to deployment. Easter Seals’ care coordinators begin working with the entire family six to nine months pre-deployment, throughout a 12-month deployment and up to 18 months after a veteran returns home.
Easter Seals is a private, nonprofit charitable organization that, since its inception in 1936, has been instrumental in establishing the industry standard of care for health and social services in New Hampshire. Easter Seals services include child care and early intervention, special education, medical rehabilitation, camping and recreation for disabled youths, transportation services, vocational services, senior services, adult day care programs, a variety of residential service options and veteran services.
As a leader in healthcare services for individuals with disabilities and special needs, ESNH employs more than 1,400 individuals who serve nearly 29,000 children and adults in more than 60 programs.
BIA established the New Hampshire Advantage Award in 2006 to honor individuals, businesses or organizations for their extraordinary work on a specific initiative, event or project that helps preserve New Hampshire’s special character and quality of life. Past honorees include the 2-1-1 New Hampshire Partnership, New Hampshire Political Library and a core group of supporters that worked to prevent closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process.
Tickets for the annual dinner, including the New Hampshire Advantage Award presentation, are available by calling 603.224.5388 x116 or visiting nhbia.org. Tables of 10 are $1,000 and individual tickets are $110.
Sponsors of the 2009 BIA Annual Dinner include:
Platinum – Citizens Bank, Comcast, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Laconia Savings Bank, Liberty Mutual Group, Public Service of New Hampshire, Thermo-Fisher Scientific and Unitil;
Media – New Hampshire Union Leader;
Gold – Bank of America, Elliot Health System, Fidelity Investments, Hypertherm, Lincoln Financial Group, Millennium Integrated Marketing, New Hampshire Public Television, StoreyManseau LLC and TD Bank;
Wine – the Balsams Grand Resort; Centerpiece – Rath Young and Pignatelli; Dessert – The Anagnost Companies and Littleton Coin Co.;
Silver – Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire, Audi of Stratham, BAE Systems, Baker Newman Noyes, Devine Millimet and Branch, Grappone Automotive Group, Maloney and Kennedy, McLane Graf Raulerson and Middleton, New Hampshire Ball Bearings, New Hampshire Business Review, Normandeau Associates, Northeast Delta Dental, The Rowley Agency, Sheehan Phinney Bass and Green, and Town and Country Reprographics.