McHenry County Blog

The Veterans March 2006 is being held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. this Tuesday and there is a significant McHenry County connection.

The 6,000 chairs, the port-a-potties and streaming video are being provided compliments of John Blanchard, CEO of the National Association of Systems Administrators, located on Route 31 north of 176. The firm was founded in 1994 and recently purchased a 24,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Crystal Lake.

This is not Blanchard’s first foray into philanthropy. He is a member of Angel Flight America (AFA), a non-profit, grassroots volunteer corps of more than 6,000 private pilots from all 50 states who transport patients and their families for free to hospitals for medical treatment. He served in the U.S. Navy for eight years.

One of the march’s organizers is McHenry County’s Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialist Pete Castillo (who was my legislative assistant).

Commenting on the Veteran’s March’s goal, he said,

Remember…the primary purpose of our march…we are in the business of unifying all…veterans across this great Nation for economic prosperity, good health, and a well wishing journey. This, you might want to make note, is from the Word of God, where my Fellowship, Prosperous Journey Troops gets its name and mission statement.

They are flying to Washington in Blanchard's plane as this is published. Tuesday both will speak to the assembled veterans. Wednesday, they will speak to members of congress.

Pete has been working with NASA Education’s Project Fresh Start, an opportunity for veterans (and others) to get well-paying jobs as systems administrators and other information technology jobs. So far, Castillo has placed five veterans with the firm. Another one, a female vet, is coming in probably in a week or two, according to Kathy Chwedyk, Development Director for NASA Education.

There are four phases to Project Fresh Start:

· Phase 1: Unpaid training for a week or two to determine where trainee best fits and desire to continue
• Phase 2: Paid training for approximately three months to prepare trainee for employment
• Phase 3: NASA will place trainee in an On The Job (OJT) position for up to two years
• Phase 4: Trainee may take advanced study for earning certification in a product family; NASA will provide study materials and may assist trainee with certification testing costs

“We never pull the plug on them and leave them on their own,” said Chwedyk. “They know that if they’re at a customer’s site and they’re having a problem, or they see something they haven’t encountered before, they can call us 24 hours a day at our toll-free number. There’s always a technical specialist available to help.”

One of the veterans just placed in an Indiana job is Ed Bolf. He served as a medic in Vietnam and ran a blood bank for the Red Cross before succumbing to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (You can read his story here tomorrow.)

Another success story is Ron Taucher.

“It is important for us as Americans to support the troops of all eras,” Blanchard said. “Putting a yellow ribbon decal on your car bumper is a nice gesture, but it isn’t enough.”

Castillo stresses that the success in placing homeless veterans

came to pass because of the Inter-Agency Sharing Agreements that I(llinois) D(epartment of) E(mployment) S(ervices)/VETS has with the McHenry County Veterans Assistance Commission and New Horizons' Transitional Living Services homeless veterans center in Hebron, Illinois.

Labels: Ed Bolf, John Blanchard, NASA Educational Foundation, Vets