With many in-person group meetings and public events canceled during the last year, organizers have had to get creative.

That has certainly been the case for the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Project, which offers peer-to-peer connection for veterans in the county.

“In the 2012-13 legislative session of the New York State Assembly they set up a grant and started giving money out to counties to create programs to help veterans in a peer-to-peer format,” said Dwyer Project coordinator Cindy Reidy.

The program is named in honor of PFC Joseph P. Dwyer, a U.S. Army soldier born in Nassau County who lost his life in 2008 at the age of 31 while coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.

Staff and students of Persell Middle School joined forces with the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Project this Valentine’s day, crafting bags to distribute food during the holiday. Pictured, in back from left, are National Honor Society co-advisor Lina Scoma, National Honor Society co-advisor Mary Maggio, faculty liason Barb Krudys and Dwyer Project coordinator Cindy Reidy. Pictured in front, from left are 8th grade National Honor Society students Grayson Bloomquist, Nolah Hamilton, Addison Hughes, Vysali Bommireddipalli, Zeiry Rosa, Jillian Sharp and Molly Wharam. P-J photo by Jay Young

Hired in April of 2017, Reidy essentially started the program from scratch, designing a network that would connect veterans through social events and outreach while working with Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene and the Chautauqua County Veterans Service Agency.

“We do fun things,” Reidy said. “We do coffee hours and we do family game nights. We do pizza nights, and everything that we have done has had to change. We were continuing to get together, we were social distancing, wearing masks, but less and less.”

Reidy was drawn to the Dwyer Project in part by the experiences of her son and daughter-in-law, who took part in similar events during their time in the U.S. Army.

“They worked putting on the military balls for around 300 people,” she said.

In 2019 the Dwyer Project hosted a Christmas ball of its own at the Gerry Rodeo grounds, gathering around 75 veterans for an evening of fun a relaxation.

Veterans organize food donations received in Dunkirk before distributing them for the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Project. Submitted photo

In 2020, these events just weren’t feasible.

“This year of course we couldn’t have it,” Reidy said.

Instead, Dwyer Project staff and volunteers spread the Christmas spirit by delivering homemade pasta dinners with the help of Trishia’s Lunchbox of Jamestown.

After the success of that event, another food delivery was organized along with the Frewsburg chapter of the American Legion.

“It was great, and we were able to reach a lot of people we hadn’t seen in a long time because they haven’t been out,” Reidy said.

In some ways, the Dwyer Project functions as a supplement to traditional veterans groups like American Legions and The Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Of the 200 veterans involved with the program in the county, many are younger soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many in the program meet up to play games or simply socialize, seeking different experiences than those found in other types of support or counseling.

Joining the effort this Valentine’s Day is a group of students at Persell Middle School.

In honor of the holiday, the Dwyer Project will deliver meals to veterans once again, this time in bags that will feature drawings and messages of thank you from Persell students.

“They are busy every day writing messages, coloring and doing pictures and using their artistic talents to design these bags. Then on Feb. 12 we will be out delivering again,” Reidy said.

In shifting to a new type of outreach, Reidy has been pleased with the response from her community of veterans. Many have expressed sincere thanks for the simple gestures of connection, and have in turn asked to volunteer in distributing food this Valentine’s Day.

“People are seeing the value of this and enjoying it and getting to meet new people, so it is just a little different avenue, we are just trying to be creative and still stay in contact and hopefully be ready to start getting our little groups back together again,” Reidy said.