New Nonprofit Will Serve Veterans & Families

By Lauren Sausser, The Post and Courier

Several public and private groups launched a new nonprofit at the VA hospital in Charleston on Tuesday to serve military veterans and their families.

The initiative, called SCServes Lowcountry, will connect veterans to resources in the community that may address their housing, employment and health care needs.

“Many veterans have more than one need,” said Pamela Crowell, associate director of the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center.

But the hospital sometimes struggles to connect military families to these services, she said.

“We know everybody needs support.”

Christopher Lu, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, and retired Brig. Gen. Gary Profit, now the senior director of military programs at Wal-Mart, also spoke during the ribbon cutting for SCServes Lowcountry.

“This is really about our customers,” Lu said. “And when our customers have problems, they don’t have Department of Labor problems, they don’t have HHS (Health and Human Services) problems, VA problems. They have problems.”

Their needs may include health care services, legal services, family services or employment. One agency can’t provide everything, he said.

“As good as our federal programs are, they can’t meet every need,” Lu said. “Their needs are too great, our resources are too scarce.”

Profit said Wal-Mart is committed to leading by example. The company hired more than 3,000 veterans in South Carolina since 2013, he said.

“It’s about taking these jobs and turning them into careers for families,” Profit said. “Lives are being changed for the better, not by reinventing the wheel, but making it turn smarter.”

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