Grassroots aid growing for Iraq war vets GRASSROOTS AID GROWS: Groups are forming, volunteers stepping forward, help of many kinds emerging to meet needs of GIs back from war

###Live Caption: Former Marine Sean Scharf uses his bike to get around San Jose, as he saves money to purchase a modest car March 25, 2008. It's been two years since Sean Scharf returned home after serving with the Marines in Iraq. Physically, heês fine. But in many small ways, he's still trying to make sense of the time he spent in a war zone. Photo By Lance Iversen / San Francisco Chronicle. ###Caption History: Former Marine Sean Scharf uses his bike to get around San Jose, as he saves money to purchase a modest car March 25, 2008. It�s been two years since Sean Scharf returned home after serving with the Marines in Iraq. Physically, he�s fine. But in many small ways, he's still trying to make sense of the time he spent in a war zone. Photo By Lance Iversen / San Francisco Chronicle. ###Notes: Lance Iversen 415-2979395 CQ ###Special Instructions: MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. less ###Live Caption:Former Marine Sean Scharf uses his bike to get around San Jose, as he saves money to purchase a modest car March 25, 2008. It's been two years since Sean Scharf returned home after serving with ... more Photo: LANCE IVERSEN Photo: LANCE IVERSEN Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Grassroots aid growing for Iraq war vets 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

There is no shortage of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who need help adjusting to civilian life. And, unlike during the Vietnam War, there is no shortage of civilians who want to embrace the nation's returning warriors, even if they don't support the war.

The challenge is how to connect the two groups, both of which often feel frustrated or intimidated by the military bureaucracy in their efforts to help or be helped. That is evolving, as civilians - including many in an anti-war area like Northern California - are finding creative ways of connecting to the more than 1.6 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In California, they range from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs creating Craigslist-like community sites to serve returning soldiers to a Sierra foothills educator helping GIs find help through the community college classroom.

One new grassroots effort will take place at noon Monday, when more than 1,000 therapists from around the country will participate in an online forum on treating Iraq war vets suffering from trauma. It can be seen at www.uctv.tv.

Each therapist has committed to giving a vet at least an hour a week of free counseling for as long as he or she may need it. Monday's event was coordinated by San Francisco's Coming Home Project, a 2-year-old all-volunteer nonprofit effort that has helped more than 300 vets and their families nationally cope with combat stress and other transition issues. It recently received a large anonymous grant to expand its work and hire staff.

Helping to link groups

Many of the project's two dozen volunteer therapists have been treating vets suffering from combat stress, much like other ad hoc therapist groups have done across the country. Monday's live-streamed forum is intended to link several of the other groups to exchange ideas and provide training.

"A lot of these therapists and vets are in the middle of Idaho or Iowa or Florida, and they're far from a VA (Veterans Affairs) medical facility," said Coming Home Project founder Joe Bobrow.

Bobrow, a 58-year-old Richmond District clinical psychologist, was inspired to start the nonprofit after reading about the "travails of the returning vets, the murders, the suicides, the stress." He realized his 35 years as a therapist gave him "a special skill set that could help people."

When Bobrow began to reach out to fellow therapists and other organizations, he found, "This same feeling was permeating the culture. People were seeing the ravages of war, and they wanted to help. If their skill set was creating a Web site, they'd do that. The sky is the limit when you have people who think outside the box and aren't afraid to cross party lines."

Pride can interfere

But many vets don't want to appear "damaged" or are too proud to ask for assistance. Others are leery of accepting or seeking help from civilians, feeling that the only people who understand their patriotic service are others who served in the military.

While Veterans Affairs officials appreciate the support of community groups like Bobrow's, they're careful about embracing them. Because of privacy regulations, the VA can't disclose who has used their services. Often, VA employees are reluctant to even hand out flyers from fledgling groups until thoroughly checking them out.

"The veterans and their families have suffered enough. So when they put up a public profile or say they need help, we want to make sure they don't get injured again," said Patricia Matthews, a spokeswoman for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Center.

It is frustrating that "there isn't one organization that's in charge of consolidating everything so people are not reinventing the wheel all of the time. The question is, who is going to do that? The DOD (Department of Defense)? The VA? Who?"

But Veterans Affairs is taking steps to reach out to community organizations. For the past several months, more than three dozen longtime veterans organizations, such as Swords to Plowshares, and new groups, such as the Coming Home Project, have been meeting informally with Veterans Affairs officials and other military service groups as part of an umbrella organization called the California Statewide Collaborative.

Its three dozen members are coordinated by Morgan Hill resident Mary Ellen Salzano, a Marine mother who is connected to dozens of support groups and individuals nationwide. While hundreds of homespun military support groups sprouted after the Sept. 11 attacks, many were focused on sending anything from coffee to body armor to troops stationed overseas. The California Collaborative is unusual in its online and offline efforts to connect governmental, community and other private sector organizations interested in helping returning troops.

One member of the Collaborative is Dave Mahler. For 30 years he has driven by the VA center in Palo Alto without stepping foot on the premises. Mahler is a veteran not of the armed forces but of the Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial class, having co-founded Remedy Corp., a software startup that was sold for enough to allow the 51-year-old not to have to work full time anymore. Yet as casualties began increasing in Iraq a year ago, Mahler called the VA and asked "what I could do to help. I'll push a broom or read to somebody there or do anything."

Internet support

After talking to VA officials, he realized he could do what he does best: Use the Internet to connect vets to what they need, from a wheelchair to legal advice. Last fall, with the help of several valley associates, he launched USA Together, www.usatogether.org, which matches vets with donors. The site features photos and brief profiles of vets, along with descriptions of what they need. One post, for example, suggested a $200 Wal-Mart gift card would help "John" get clothes and other basic necessities.

The VA's Matthews "loves the idea," and also likes another Silicon Valley volunteer-run nonprofit called Rebuild Hope, www.rebuildhope.org, founded a little more than a month ago to connect donors with vets.

But both organizations face a common problem: Finding veterans who will advertise their needs. Mahler said USA Together has helped "dozens" of vets and their families, Rebuild Hope just a handful so far. "There's no question there is a need for help," said Dana Hendrickson, the Menlo Park founder of Rebuild Hope. "The question is, How are you going to find people who are willing to ask for help in a public way?

"But we're not disappointed. We're in this for the long haul."

Catherine Morris is trying a different approach to reach vets - through the classroom. She's a counselor at Sierra College in Rocklin, about a half-hour north of Sacramento. The 46-year-old veteran of the Army National Guard, Air National Guard and Marines grew concerned as she saw the number of Iraq vets swell on her campus.

Many, like Marine Sgt. Mark Green, felt civilians didn't understand what he'd been through. He supervised 20 men when he was 19, the same age as some of his classmates.

"A lot of military guys coming back to school are already four or five years older, and they're around all these kids just out of high school who haven't been through the same things," Green said. "You go around campus and you want to connect with somebody who's been through the same things."

To stitch together the vets, Morris helped start a veterans club on campus. Last fall, she invited the community to a forum on campus called "The Road Home: From Combat to College and Beyond."

Next fall, she will expand on the success of the forum by starting a for-credit college success class called "Boots to Books." The class will offer life and career skills instruction and feature speakers from local vets centers. Several veterans service providers are watching the program to see if it can be replicated elsewhere. An estimated 17,000 young vets are currently enrolled in California's community colleges.

A hidden toll

But other vets are choosing different paths. It's been two years since Sean Scharf returned home after serving with the Marines in Iraq. Physically, he's fine. But the 27-year-old San Jose resident and San Jose City College student carries the unseen toll of the horrors he's seen. The nightmares. The hyper-vigilance in public places.

He doesn't want to talk about them to anybody other than his military buddies. So he is choosing to work with the new Bay Area Chapter of Vets4Vets, which connects returning soldiers with those who can best appreciate what they've been through.

The growing consensus is that to best help returning vets, the military must do something that it doesn't often do - be more open to cooperating with community groups, private industry, nonprofits and civilian volunteers.

"We don't know how this will play out over 10, 15, 30 years," said retired Brig. Gen. Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist who specializes in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. "It will require changing the model of how we deal with things."

Where to get help: A listing of a number of agencies dedicated to veterans, and how to contact them. A7

Jobs for vets: Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders says it's not enough to support the troops as they return from war. U.S. companies need to hire soldiers who went to Iraq. Insight, G6