LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR MURRAY CONTINUES TO ADVOCATE FOR VETERANS' FAMILIES

BOSTON - Friday, March 26, 2010 - Building on the Patrick-Murray Administration's commitment to provide services to Massachusetts veterans and their family members, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray presented a resolution to assist families of servicemen and women across the country last week during the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Co-sponsored by Vermont Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie and unanimously approved by NLGA members, Lieutenant Governor Murray's resolution will expand services by Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists (SOFAR), a New England based group that works in Massachusetts and Vermont to support families in the military. The resolution calls for SOFAR's helpful guide, a written resource for education professionals to help students with a family member that has been deployed, be distributed to schools and employees under the jurisdictions of the states and territories of NLGA members.

"Many of our military families, including children, face a range of struggles so it is important that we continue to provide them with adequate support," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, Chair of the Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans' Services. "Through this resolution, we will offer these families the resources they need to help ease their burden, and I thank my colleagues in the NLGA who joined with me in this effort on behalf of servicemen and women."

The SOFAR (Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists) Resolution ensures that schools in the United States will receive a copy of "The SOFAR Guide for Helping Children and Youth Cope with the Deployment of a Parent in the Military Reserves." Currently, this handbook has been distributed to schools throughout Massachusetts and is SOFAR is also active in Vermont.

"Lt. Governor Murray is a great leader and advocate of veterans' services, and I appreciated the opportunity to partner with him to extend services currently offered in Massachusetts and Vermont to states across the country," said Vermont Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie, a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

SOFAR is a non-profit, pro bono mental health project that provides free psychological support, psychotherapy, psycho education and prevention services to extended family of reserve and National Guard deployed during the Global War on Terrorism from time of alert through the period of reunion and reintegration.

"SOFAR has had great success providing assistance and support to military families here in Massachusetts," said Secretary of Veterans' Services Tom Kelley. "I applaud the efforts of Lt. Governor Murray and his partners in the NLGA for passing this Resolution, expanding the reach of SOFAR and helping military families throughout the country."

This is the second resolution proposed by Lieutenant Governor Murray regarding veterans' and military families. At the 2009 NLGA Winter Meeting, the NLGA passed a Resolution to Improve Outreach to Veterans and Their Families on Mental Health and Adjustment Issues.

"We are so pleased to be able to offer support to National Guard and Reserve Component families in many states," said Co Directors of SOFAR, Dr. Jaine Darwin, Psy.D. and Kenneth I. Reich, Ed.D. "We think providing information to them is our way of saluting them and thanking them for their service as their family members deploys and returns."

Lieutenant Governor Murray, Chair of the Governor's Advisory Council on Veterans' Services, attended the NLGA meeting in Washington, D.C. March 17 - 19, 2010. During his visit, he also joined Senator Scott Brown and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Tammy Duckworth to discuss veterans' services in Massachusetts.

Lieutenant Governor Murray also serves as the East Regional Chair of the NLGA. NLGA is the professional association for the elected officials who are first in line of succession to their respective governors. The NLGA provides members the opportunity to network, meet, foster interstate cooperation, adopt policy resolutions on important issues, and share best practices to the benefit of the constituents in the states and territories.

Read the Resolution and more about the Patrick-Murray Administration's support for veterans and their family members.

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