35 cents
VOL. 4/ISSUE 33
THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016
Eagle Marsh opens course to benefit local veterans organization
A city and country in mourning
Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
pmccallister@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Golfers will get veterans service animals on July 23. More accurately, on July 23 Eagle Marsh Gold Club in Jensen Beach will host a golf tournament to benefit Martin County’s Courage on All Fronts, a veterans assistance organization that, among other things, is getting veterans service animals. The tourney started with Joey Maggio, special events coordinator at the club, calling Alicia Cheplick, president of the veterans-service organization. “He said, ‘We’d like to do a golf tournament for you,’” Cheplick said. Just like that. Out of the blue. Maggio said the club did another tournament to help a veterans organization last year. “We had spoke to some of the servicemen who were at the event,” Maggio said. “Two of them told me about a local organization called Courage on All Fronts.” Maggio started doing some research and liked what he found. Alicia and her husband, Michael Cheplick, founded Courage on All Fronts a few years ago. Michael served in operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Among the organization’s ventures, it’s taking veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, on therapeutic adventures. “We just took a group out deep sea fishing,” Cheplick said. “We went sailing.” Five went on the fishing trip. Four went for the sailing adventure launching from the U.S. Sailing Center of Martin County, Jensen Beach.
See GOLF page 6
Photo by Mitch Kloorfain/Chief Photographer Linda Bartz, vice mayor of Port St. Lucie, right, joins a candlelight vigil in sympathy for the victims and families of the 49 club-goers at the Pulse in Orlando who were gunned down June 12. The shooter, Omar Mateen a Port St. Lucie resident, carried out the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Mateen lived and worked throughout the Treasure Coast from Palm City to Fort Pierce, including working security at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce. He attended Martin County High School. He purchased the guns he used in the attack in St. Lucie County.
Jobs happening through Veteran Infused Employment Mary Kemper STAFF WRITER
mkemper@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Nothing makes EllaMay “Annie” Artis happier than when veterans let her know that she’s connected yet another one with a good job. The state coordinator for Veteran Community Employment for the VA is tireless in her efforts to get veterans to the weekly Veteran Infused Workshops that give veter-
ans all the resources possible to land that perfect job. In an email “blast,” Artis shared this from veteran Michael Berryhill, who became a senior cruise counselor and wedding officiant: “Happy to report that both the job fair and (training) sessions were responsible for landing me the perfect job. Can’t thank you enough, Annie!” There are a series of job seminars com-
See JOBS page 8