New nonprofit helps get vets on their feet
Joe Maguire, of Buffalo Township, found himself in rough shape after his eight-year stint in the U.S. Army ended in 2004.
“I let PTSD get the best of me, and I found myself at the bottom of a bottle, and there were no answers there,” said Maguire, who deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery.
A stay at the Butler VA domiciliary’s treatment center revealed to him that many veterans in his shoes did not have the support from family and friends that Maguire enjoyed, so they had a harder time finding sobriety.
“My goal was to get them off this carousel,” Maguire said of the cycle of addiction, homelessness and jail time that can result from PTSD. “It’s just this endless cycle, and these guys need to manage their PTSD so they can get back on their feet and manage their lives.”
So Maguire, along with two other veterans, founded the Veterans Overwatch Foundation.
The foundation’s biggest program now is Operation Planting Roots, which sees foundation volunteers loading up free furniture chosen by veterans after they are discharged from transitional housing.
Maguire said he works with Butler Veterans in Need, which has a warehouse of donated furniture for veterans and others in need, to load and deliver the furniture Butler County veterans choose there.
The foundation also works with the Blessing Board furniture warehouse in Allegheny County in delivering furniture to a veteran’s new apartment.
Operation Tech Talk is a program in the works in collaboration with VA Butler Healthcare in which veterans will come to the Abie Abraham VA Health Center to learn the basics of using a computer and accessing online services, like banking, email or grocery delivery.
The foundation holds coffee socials for veterans from 3 to 4 p.m. on the first and third Fridays of each month at the county Mental Health Association at 140 N. Elm St., Butler.
Veterans Closet provides free clothing to struggling veterans, and another program helps veterans receive reduced-cost haircuts at the Butler Beauty Academy.
Maguire has personally driven veterans to the state Department of Transportation Drivers License Center to get a state identification, and he’s provided for other needs as well.
“I don’t think I’ve said ‘no’ to one vet who’s called me,” he said. “If it’s a unique need, I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
So far, programs at Veterans Overwatch Foundation have been funded in part through T-shirt sales and by the foundation’s board members and volunteers.
The foundation serves veterans in four counties.
Donations can be accepted at the foundation’s website, vetof.org.
