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ABOUT US

Building Bridges has organically evolved from a single site experiment to gather a handful of veterans, to an organized network of fifteen sites in four New England states, all in pursuit of the same mission: to address veteran social isolation, depression and suicide ideation by building veteran communities of mutual support and healing.
Lunch time camaraderie

Beginnings

Since its inception in 2015, Building Bridges has expanded from a single weekly lunch site of a handful of veterans in Northampton, Massachusetts, to fifteen breakfast, lunch or dinner sites in four New England states. Having served more than 100,000 complementary meals, each meal location further serves as a venue for other veteran nonprofits to connect with veterans, make available their services, and remind our veterans that we are in this together. The sites are as different as the veterans who attend and the volunteers who host the meal, but the mission remains the same: to ensure their care as they cared for us.

Evolution

Always in the process of evolving, Building Bridges periodically hosts its outdoor “Fire Initiative,” gathering veterans from four wars to share stories, partake of buffalo stew, and be ceremonially welcomed home as too many never were. New meal sites are planned as the demand for expansion continues, and new opportunities await all those who elect to join the initiative. Whether veteran or not, there is a place for you at Building Bridges

The Team

Bishop Douglas Fisher

Bishop Douglas Fisher​

Bishop Douglas Fisher was elected in 2012 with a mandate for the Diocese to prioritize and address the needs of military veterans.

Before his election, Doug was the Rector of a parish outside the gates of West Point, and served as a West Point chaplain.

"Credentialed mental health professionals like me have no place in center sage. We are stagehands—get the lights on, sweep out the gum wrappers, count the chairs, make sure it’s a safe and warm enough place. So, the Building Bridges core team perceives that its job is to 'get out of the way', freeing those who risked their lives for us all to feel grateful that they served."

Chris Carlisle

Rev. Christopher Carlisle

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Rev. Christopher Carlisle is founder and Executive Director of the Building Bridges Veterans Initiative of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Having spent thirty-five years working in parishes, on college campuses, and in outdoor worshipping communities, Chris is dedicated to creating a ministry which recognizes the invaluable service rendered by our military veterans, seeking innovative ways to more fully bring them home.

How it all comes together

The heart of every site is the “Champion,” who oversees the monthly lunch. Champions identify potential local venues—churches, senior centers, and veteran organizations—to secure donated space. Champions engage a volunteer chef, and oversee from between three and twelve volunteers to prepare and serve the food. They may assist in local fundraising, and get the word out to the community and nearby veteran organizations. 

More than anything else, Champions infuse Building Bridges sites with the energy and unqualified welcome that ensures their success. In all, Building Bridges employs more than 100 volunteers—some are veterans, some are not—but who universally testify to the importance of the work for their lives.

Building Bridges - Keene - Lunch is served 01
Building Bridges - A birthday celebration

What happens at a Building Bridges meal?

One of the leading lights in research on veteran PTSD and “moral injury” is Harvard psychologist and author of “Achilles in Vietnam,” Jonathan Shay, who continues to inspire the design and process of the Building Bridges experience: “Peers are the key to recovery—I can’t emphasize that enough. Credentialed mental health professionals like me have no place in center stage. We are stagehands—get the lights on, sweep out the gum wrappers, count the chairs, make sure it’s a safe and warm enough place.” So, the Building Bridges core team perceives that its job is to “get out of the way,” freeing those who risked their lives for us all to feel grateful that they served.

The Story Behind the Meals

As human beings, we all know the physical necessity of eating. Indeed, studies increasingly show how eating affects both physical and mental health. Yet, according to the USDA, eight percent of our veterans—who risked their lives to protect the farms that produce the food we all enjoy—suffer food insecurity, while one in six is on the brink of not having enough to eat. Building Bridges’ “meal counter” testifies to the need to feed our veterans, as well as the poignant tragedy that so many continue to go hungry.

The story behind our hot nutritious meals that bring Building Bridges Veterans together is the story of the challenges facing those who risked their lives for us all. According to the Veterans Administration, many researchers deem social isolation “the strongest and most reliable predictor of suicidal ideation, (suicide attempts), and lethal suicidal behavior. In addition to suicide, loneliness and social isolation have been linked to other poor physical and mental health outcomes, and functional difficulties.”

The mission of Building Bridges is to address veteran depression, social isolation, and suicide risk. According to a recent survey cited by the VA, over half of U.S. veterans confessed “feeling lonely some of the time or often.” As important as physical nutrition may be in fulfilling Building Bridges’ mission, it is the nourishment of the soul—the camaraderie, support, and listening that happens around the table—which is the magical heart and soul of Building Bridges, and for those who have yet to join, can promise untold fulfillment.