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Pike County honors, supports veterans through new service fund

Pike County honors veterans through the Pike County Veterans Support Fund (PCVSF), which will focus on turning veterans' training into marketable skills after military service. Back row: Pike County Commissioner Ronald Schmalzle; George Haney, American Legion Post 851 of Dingmans Ferry; Rick Little, Executive Director, Greater Pike Community Foundation; Luke Turano, Board Chair, Greater Pike Community Foundation; Jesiah Schrader, Director, Pike County Veterans Affairs Office; Pike County Commissioner Matthew Osterberg; Allan Schatz, Secretary, VetStock; Mike Barth, Milford Marsch-Kellogg American Legion Post 139; and John Kupillas, Milford Veterans of Foreign War. Front row: Joe Scebetta, Newman Smith American Legion Post 514; Pike County Commissioner Christa Caceres; Gary Brink, Gung Ho Marine Corps League; and Don Knight, Gung Ho Marine Corps League.
Courtesy of Pike County Commissioners
Pike County honors veterans through the Pike County Veterans Support Fund (PCVSF), which will focus on turning veterans' training into marketable skills after military service. Back row: Pike County Commissioner Ronald Schmalzle; George Haney, American Legion Post 851 of Dingmans Ferry; Rick Little, Executive Director, Greater Pike Community Foundation; Luke Turano, Board Chair, Greater Pike Community Foundation; Jesiah Schrader, Director, Pike County Veterans Affairs Office; Pike County Commissioner Matthew Osterberg; Allan Schatz, Secretary, VetStock; Mike Barth, Milford Marsch-Kellogg American Legion Post 139; and John Kupillas, Milford Veterans of Foreign War. Front row: Joe Scebetta, Newman Smith American Legion Post 514; Pike County Commissioner Christa Caceres; Gary Brink, Gung Ho Marine Corps League; and Don Knight, Gung Ho Marine Corps League.

Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide and face a greater risk of homelessness than non-veterans. A new program in Pike County seeks to empower veterans by turning military training into marketable skills.

The Pike County Veterans Support Fund (PCVSF) will expand the county’s veteran services and will be permanently funded as part of the Greater Pike Community Foundation, according to county Commissioner Chairman Matt Osterberg.

All three county commissioners, Pike County Veterans Affairs director Jesiah Schrader, a community leader and two representatives from local veterans’ service organizations will make up the fund’s board of directors.

The endowment “is something that we feel will be here for ... decades. You know, long after I'm gone from this office, future commissioners can be operating this foundation,” Osterberg said. He added that the board’s appointees will be “strong advocates” for veterans’ issues.

“It also sends a message to other veterans that you know, this is a person that they look up to, who, of course, you know was out there as a strong speaker about veterans needs in our community,” Osterberg said.

The fund will also honor the legacy of VetStock, a national organization that fundraised for veteran service groups nationwide, Osterberg added.

An end, and a new beginning

Started in 2012, VetStock is closing its doors in December. It donated the initial $10,000 to start the support fund and furnished the county’s new veterans affairs office in Shohola, which opened earlier this year.

Over its 12 years, founding member Thomas Ryan said VetStock donated to organizations like Combat Hero Bike Build, which builds custom motorcycles for wounded vets and The Final Salute/Final Mile Program, which pays for military burials for veterans who do not have living family members. VetStock donated $4,800 to cover a veteran’s escort and burial in Louisville, Kentucky from a Tampa, Florida hospital, Ryan added.

Vetstock also honored five fallen veterans through Veterans Moving Forward, which provides service dogs and canine therapy to “any veteran of any generation, who served honorably, has physical and/or mental challenges resulting from military operations and/or accident or disease experienced during or subsequent to military service.”

Two of VetStock’s dogs were named after Honesdale residents who were killed in action, Ryan said.

Lance Corporal Jacob Beisel was killed in Iraq while serving as a U.S. Marine in Mar. 2006. He was 21.

Staff Sergeant Paul ‘Paulie’ Sweeney was killed while serving as a U.S. Army Green Beret in October 2023 and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

“The dog becomes … another 15 years of service … He continues a legacy,” Ryan said.

A Vietnam War veteran himself, Ryan said most successful veteran organizations are run by veterans themselves.

“It's just a will to go and get them and help them. I believe that that's it," Ryan said, adding that politicians and federal organizations need to do more.

"They leave it to us,” he said.

Empowering veterans through community connection

By putting veterans organizations and county officials in charge together over PCVSF, Ryan said veterans' needs will be heard and will benefit from county resources.

The program will give Pike’s roughly 6,000 veteran residents – 10% of the population – a countywide homebase, Osterberg said.

“Our role here in the county is to make sure that [veterans are] getting all the services and all the benefits that they truly deserve from their years of service, whether that service was in the military for four years or for 40 years,” Osterberg said.

Pike County's veteran center has two staffers and plans to hire a third in 2025, said Osterberg. In Schrader’s two years as director, Osterberg said he nearly doubled the county’s budget allotment for veterans from $8 million to $15 million. He said the new fund will focus on workforce development.

Veterans “need to be acclimated back into society … they need job training, employment opportunities.” The county’s new veteran services office is next door to the workforce development department, Osterberg added.

Funding from the endowment will focus on turning veterans’ military training into marketable job skills, Ryan said. He warns that veteran organizations risk becoming “shortsighted” by not seeing how veterans’ experiences can be strengths in the workforce. The updated Pike veterans center will have people who can help veterans apply for well-paying federal jobs, he said, like at the Tobyhanna Army Depot.

“When you get a guy that comes out of a tank what can he do? ... He's capable of [driving] a bulldozer, that's for sure. But …the tanks are run by computers,” Ryan said. “Now, how do you transition that veteran from a computer in a tank to a computer at Microsoft? How do you do that? That has to be in a training program.”

Osterberg said the program’s plans for workforce development is central to honoring veterans’ sacrifices.

“They are first responders,” said Osterberg. “We in the community owe so much to what they give us every single day to make sure that we're all safe in this community and safe in this country … all of us have the ability to give. You know, whether it's our time, our treasure or our talent, you know, all three of those things are something that we can all give to our community to benefit others.”

Ryan said veterans deserve programs like the Pike County Veterans Support Fund. Politicians and government officials need to have the “vision” to help veterans excel in civilian life through service programs that cater to their needs.

“Listen, I'm a 75-year-old Vietnam veteran, [and] I can think of it," Ryan said. "These young men and women (veterans) know how to do this stuff, just fine tune it.”

Osterberg and Pike’s commissioners have not announced yet the community member who will be part of the Pike County Veterans Support Fund’s (PCVSF) board of directors, but plan to in an upcoming meeting. The two representatives from local veterans’ organizations will be chosen through an application process.

Pike County’s Veterans Affairs Office is at the Shohola Business Center, 837 Route 6, Unit 3, Shohola.

Isabela Weiss is a storyteller turned reporter from Athens, GA. She is WVIA News's Rural Government Reporter and a Report for America corps member. Weiss lives in Wilkes-Barre with her fabulous cats, Boo and Lorelai.

You can email Isabella at isabelaweiss@wvia.org